There and Back Again?
by kovah
Summary: Six years after Hitomi returned to Earth she still longs to see Van again, a new face is her ticket to Gaea but if she thinks that she is in for a quiet time Hitomi is wrong. features old characters dil allen merle folkon celena !Finnished! Being updated
1. Beginnings Again

Chapter 1

Beginnings Again

'_I wonder what he's doing now'_

Everything had changed that day for Hitomi Kanzaki, that day she visited Gaea…and met Van. A year had passed since, and Hitomi was sitting in her room waiting, staring into space. She had never mentioned anything about Van or Allen once she got back, not even to Yukari. Though her thoughts were often filled Van and Allen and the mysteries of Gaea.

"Hitomi" her mother called from the hallway. "They're here." That year the Kanzaki's were hosting a foreign student from England for 5 weeks. The English student practiced Japanese and Hitomi got to practice her English. Hitomi rushed to the top of the stairs to find a blond haired girl standing next to her mother in the hall, looking up at her. "This…is…Hitomi" said her Mother slowly "Hello" replied the girl "Nice to meet you, my name is Katherine, but everyone back home calls me Kat"

Kat's Japanese was rather good – though it sounded strange in an English accent. "I'll show you you're room" said Hitomi's Mother at a slightly faster pace. "Thank you" Kat replied she heaved her suitcase up the stairs and into her new room. It was nice and light, with a bed, nightstand and book shelf. It was simple but she felt almost instantly at home. "Dinner is at 6" Hitomi's mother said with a smile "Thank you" Kat replied. "See if you can teach Hitomi some English, she's a bit behind."

Hitomi blushed. It wasn't her fault languages, mainly English. Weren't her thing, but running, now that was a different matter.

"Did you have a good flight?" asked Hitomi as she stood at the doorway. "Yes, thanks it was nice" Kat replied opening her suitcase and literally emptying it out over the floor and then searching in the pile for something. "Habit…" Kat said as she saw the look on Hitomi's face. "Come in" she continued. "And tell me about any rules and stuff that I should know about. Like…curfews"

Hitomi smiled and walked in the room and perched on the windowsill, watching this new girl with some interest as she searched through the pile of clothes and bits and bobs.

"Well curfew is about 10 – 10:30pm, don't leave stuff in the living room – drives Mother mad and erm raiding the fridge at night isn't a good idea unless you know which stairs creak" Hitomi said with a smirk. Kat smiled back and scooped up a load of stuff and placed it on the chest of draws. A deck of tarot cards jumped out at Hitomi straight away. "You can do tarot?" she asked instantly. Kat looked confused, she obviously didn't understand. Hitomi pointed at the cards. "Oh….sorry I didn't understand the word….yes…well I try…sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't."

"Hitomi liked Kat and Kat liked Hitomi, within four days they had talked about almost everything under the sun, in both English and Japanese. They were seated on Hitomi's bed when Hitomi saw that Kat was wearing a small bracelet with… '_It can't be'_ "Can I see you're bracelet?" asked Hitomi

"Sure" Kat unclipped it and handed it to Hitomi. '_It's just like my old pendant...only it's….'_

"Purple…." Hitomi's head shot up. "Its purple…it used to be pink…turned purple last year for some reason. I never figured it out." '_A year ago...'_ "You ok ?" asked Kat "You look kinda…."

"I'm fine, where did you get it ?" Hitomi asked "Oh, I found it, I was walking in a forest near home and I saw something sparkle and there it was caught in a tree. So I climbed the tree and got it out, I think the chain had been longer but it was broken, so I got my Dad to make it into a bracelet. Why?"

"Oh its…I just used to have something like this, I….err…lost it and was wondering if there was like a shop or something I could get another from" Hitomi said. "Well if I see one I'll let you know" said Kat

"Hey Kat?" Hitomi said quietly "Yeah" she replied. "You want to come to school with me tomorrow, I'll show you around" Kats face brightened up considerably "Wow, yeah please, will be interesting to look around a Japanese school" Hitomi's mother came in and looked at the two girls. "Well if you are going to school with Hitomi tomorrow you better both get to bed." She said kindly. The both nodded and bade each other goodnight.


	2. Too Long

Chapter 2

Too Long

'_It's been six years, and still my heart aches, for both of them. Will the pain ever stop?'_ he thought. Van was sat leaning against the tree, as dappled light shone through the trees. He stared at his brothers grave and his dormant Guymeluf; Escaflowne. Six long years had passed since his brother passed away and Hitomi had left to go back to the Mystic Moon, leaving him alone. Well not quite. Merle was always somewhere nearby, and he was glad of her company. But still, he sat in silence for as long as he could each day, lost in his memories….of her.

Allen sat, face in his hands. Waiting. '_She shouldn't have to go through this, why did it have to be her…Why?'_ A scream rang out from the room, and Allen rushed to the door, only to find it locked.

"CELENA!" He yelled slamming his fist on the door and pulling on the handle. The heavy oak door seemed to mock his efforts to enter the room to help his little sister. He drew his sword intending to hack the door to pieces if he had too, when it opened and the ancient priest in front of him nodded and said "It is done. Though, we will not know if it was successful for some time."

Allen pushed past the Priest and knelt onto the floor of the grey stoned room next to his sister, holding her limp form tenderly in his arms. "What, what happened?" he choked. "It requires a great amount of force to separate two entities so completely entwined. Your sister and Dilandau had been within each other for so long I would imagine it was also quite painful, which is why she screamed when the separation was finally completed" Allen glared angrily at the sorcerer priest, he shouldn't have made her go through this, he shouldn't of. "Do not worry Allen Shazar, she will awaken soon, and may be cured" he said softly before leaving Allen and Celena alone. "I'm sorry" he whispered. "Allen" said a female voice. He turned and saw Princess Eries in the doorway. "How is she?" she asked softly. "She'll be fine. I think it was successful, but we won't know until she wakes up. Eries knelt beside Allen and swept some hair from Celena's face as Allen cradled her.

"Come, let us take her to bed" Allen struggled slightly to his feet, carrying Celena as Eries led the way to the bedroom. Allen placed her down on the bed, and stared fondly at his little sister; lost for so long inside Zaibach, then Dilandau. He prayed that they would be able to put all of that behind them now. Forever.

Van got to his feet at dusk and was rejoined by Merle within ten minutes of leaving his brothers grave. She had been watching from a distance for a long time, knowing what he was thinking.

"You still miss her don't you" Merle said. Van said nothing. His black hair covered his eyes as they walked back to the castle through the beautiful grounds that had been recreated after the destruction of the city. "There's this woman waiting for you….she's a noble of some country or other, I told her to wait while I came to get you." Van looked at Merle "And what time was that?"

"Around noon." She replied with a smirk. "So you don't like her then?" Van said with a smile and Merle blushed ever so slightly. Van took a deep breath and made his way to the room where the noble was waiting. "STILL !" questioned Merle "Tenacious isn't she"

"Your Majesty, King Fanel" said the woman. Van's jaw almost dropped. She was the most beautiful creature he had ever seen….except…. _Hitomi_ She had flowing white, blond hair and large hazel eyes that seemed to shine in the light. She was wearing a long dress of deep blue and Van could barely takes his eyes off her. "My name is Ayame Okinawa daughter my Father is Kado Okinawa from the Northern Mountains. I have been sent to ask you're permission to move our armies over you're land and…" Merle switched off at this point and left to sit on the roof and look at the stars. "I almost miss Hitomi" she muttered.

"Is everything ready?"

"Yes Sir"

"Everyone is in place?"

"Yes Sir"

"What of Allen Shazar and Van Fanel, will they pose a problem?"

"Both are occupied Sir, Allen with his younger sister and Ayame is preoccupying Van"

"Good….good….it won't be long now"


	3. The Last Bell

Chapter 3

The Last Bell

Kat woke up early; she was excited, but nervous about visiting Hitomi's school. She knew she would stick out like a sore thumb for one thing, as she obviously didn't have a uniform and her ripped jeans and body hugging t-shirts weren't perhaps the best thing to wear but she had little else. Kat got dressed and as an afterthought pulled on a fitted lime green zip up top and went downstairs to breakfast that was already on the stove. "Good morning" she said to Hitomi's Mother "Morning" she replied before calling up the stairs "HITOMI!" _Van, I missed you, how did you get back?_

_I found a way, now we can be together forever…_

Hitomi jerked awake at her mother's call, it had felt so real. "Van" she whispered, sitting for a moment before struggling out of bed, pulling on her uniform and running downstairs to the kitchen.

"What took you so long" scolded her Mother "Kat doesn't have to go to school, but still managed to get down here early" Hitomi sat down at the table and ate her breakfast in silence. It felt like no time at all before her and Kat were on the way to school. "You ok?" asked Kat "I…I'm fine…just has a weird dream is all" she replied "Really? What about?" Kat asked quickly "I can't quite remember…all I know is that it was weird" Hitomi chuckled "I have those sometimes…I had one once where I swear I saw a woman with wings holding a jewel like my bracelet. Dreams are funny things…."

"Yeah" replied Hitomi avoiding eye contact. "HITOMI!" yelled a voice. Hitomi and Kat turned round.

"Yukari" said Hitomi as the girl ran up to them. "Yukari, this is Kat; our foreign student" Kat nodded as Hitomi introduced her. "Hi. Nice to meet you" said Kat "You too" replied Yukari with a smile. "Come on, we're gonna be late" said Hitomi.

The three talked all the rest of the way too school, then as much as they could during school and Hitomi and Yukari were happy to show Kat around without students bustling everywhere instead of English class. "I'm glad you came today" said Yukari "Pop quiz's are horrible…I'm just glad Mr. Fukushima wanted you to see the rest of the school" "Glad to be of service" said Kat with a grin as they walked out onto the yard, the wind whipping hair into their eyes. "It's so beautiful here" said Kat quietly as she watched a Cherry Blossom blowing in the wind. "Yeah" said Hitomi and Yukari in unison. The bell sounded for them to go to their next lesson. Kat sat at the back of the history class, listening to the teacher. She couldn't make out a lot of what he was saying – except a lot of dates and names. The class seemed to drag on forever until the end of the school day finally came.

"I have training" said Hitomi "You don't mind watching do you?" she asked "Course not" Kat replied "I wanna see you in action" Hitomi smiled. "I have to go get changed, you can go to the stadium if you want and get a seat, I'll be out in a minute.

"Ok" said Kat and made her way into the stadium and sat down. She absently started fiddling with her bracelet as she watched the goings on around her. Hitomi appeared and started doing warm ups. It was awhile before Kat noticed him. Though he had been watching her for some time, he didn't know why, but this girl…there was something different about her. He made his way over slowly as not to startle her. "Is this seat taken" he asked. Kat looked up in surprise at the large man wearing a long black coat beside her, then around at the almost empty stadium around her. "Oh…err…no" replied trying to stare too much, for his face had been in shadow at first but now she noticed he had a purple tear drop tattoo by his eye and green hair. And the way he carried himself, a man used to power? He seemed to be wearing gloves as well the long black coat, Kat was almost uncomfortably warm in her jeans and t-shirt.

"Thank you" he said and sat down. "That's a pretty bracelet" he said seeing her fiddling with it, she was trying to concentrate on something other than the strange man's appearance. "Thanks" said Kat shortly watching Hitomi warm up. "You're not from around here are you" he said, it was more of a statement than a question. "Oh…no…I'm from England, foreign student, I'm staying with Hitomi Kanzaki" Kat pointed her out. Hitomi was lining up for her race and glanced over at Kat, and saw a man next to her. "Marks, set, GO!" Hitomi stayed where she was, like her legs were glued to the ground. '_It couldn't be'_

Hitomi got to her feet, ignoring the people around her, as she went to the stands towards Kat and the man. Kat was vaguely aware that there was something wrong with this interaction, like it should never have happened but could not put her finger on exactly what it was. '_It's impossible' thought __Hitomi_ "May I look at your bracelet" he asked, something seemed familiar about the small purple stone like a memory from a dream. "Sure" said Kat shrugging. She unclipped it and handed it to him. It instantly turned pink and began to glow. "That's weird" said Kat, "It hasn't done that before."

Hitomi saw the glow and rushed towards Kat and the man, almost sensing what was coming.

"KAT!" she yelled and jumped and caught Kat by the arm just in time.


	4. Goodbye Kansas

Chapter 4

Goodbye Kansas

The column of bright light came from the heavens and surrounded Hitomi, Kat and the stranger. It seemed to last for mere seconds but when it disappeared they were no longer in Kansas. Hitomi's eyes grew wide as she scanned the surroundings. A thick forest had replaced the stadium. She looked around for Kat and found her a few meters away looking like she had just seen the devil himself.

"Kat? Are you ok?" Kat just looked at her.

"What the hell just happened? Where am I?"

"Listen you have to calm down everything is going to be ok"

"AHHHHHH!" Kat screamed, jumped to her feet and bolted into the dark forest. Hitomi turned around and saw the wolf man that she had met the first time she had come to Gaea and realized why Kat had screamed. Animal people apparently weren't all that common in England.

"Kat! Come back" she yelled "Its ok…"

"Hitomi?" said the wolf man

"Yeah, it's me"

"You have been gone a long while…almost 6 years, we saw the light and came…we have found another of your friends, through he seems to be unconscious" The wolf man led Hitomi to the stranger and Hitomi was lost for words…he looked exactly like…

"Folkon" she muttered almost silently.

Kat ran through the forest as fast as her legs could carry her, looking backward to make sure the, the thing wasn't following. She suddenly collided into something that was running in the opposite direction to her. She staggered back and fell to the floor; Kat looked up to see what she had collided into. It wasn't a thing which made her feel better. It was a man…a man wearing rags…but still a man. He had longish silvery grey hair and the most unusual red looking eyes and was looking at her with the same curiosity she was looking at him.

Kat got up and backed away slightly.

"Are…are you ok?" she asked. The man didn't move, he just stayed on the floor, and she noticed he had begun to rock slightly. Kat slowly went towards him.

"Hey are you ok?" she repeated.

"I…I lost something" he whispered

"What did you loose?"

"I….I…lost…" he said then suddenly lunged on her and held her to the ground. Kat yelled and a well placed kick on her part; caused enough pain to the man for her to struggle free.

"You…you stay away from me!" she stuttered. The man looked up at her, as Kat backed away.

"Please don't leave me alone" he said.

Kat considered her options; she could run away from this guy and be all alone in this strange dark place with animal people. Or she could stay with him and have at least some protection (he seemed pretty strong) and try to figure out what the hell had happened to her and find Hitomi.

"Ok…I think I must be having a very, VERY weird Panasonic, sound surround, three dimensional dream…but I won't leave you alone if you help me find Hitomi and don't jump on me again." The man seemed to consider her statement for a moment before Kat said "I'm Kat…what's you're name?"

"I think…I think its Dilandau."


	5. Reunion

Chapter 5

Reunion

"She'll be fine Allen" said Eries softly. Celena had woken up for a time, and had some food and drink before falling back into a deep sleep.

"I know…it's just…after she disappeared, all I was focused on was getting her back. Then when I got her back I found out part of her was Dilandau. And she had to remember all those things that he did. And now he's gone and she's just my sister again. It feels like a great burden has been lifted off my shoulders" Eries smiled and placed her hand on Allen's shoulder.

"Come, you should rest. I will watch over her until you return" Allen stood up and gazed into her eyes.

"Thank you" he said and left the room. As Eries sat next to Celena on the bed and tucked the sleeping girl in.

Van gazed into space, not really listening to the small army of politicians that were arguing around him about the issues that Ayame had raised.

"But to allow it would jeopardize our treaty with the city of Coaral, who need I remind you - are valuable allies."

"However if we deny them…"

'_I wonder what Hitomi is doing now…is she ok? I wonder if I'll ever see her again'_

"Your majesty?...King Fanel?"

"Huh?...What?" said Van jerking out of his daydream to find all of them looking at him. "Oh I'm…I'll sleep on it and give you my decision in the morning" he said. Then stood up and made his way to his bedroom. Pausing at the window that gave the best view of Faneila.

Hitomi and the Wolf man searched the forest for near on an hour, and couldn't find a trace of Kat, Folkon hadn't woken up either. Hitomi shuddered in the dark night air.

"I should take you to Fanelia, King Fanel will know what to do. Also it will be easier to search in daylight"

"I guess" said Hitomi.

'_I want to see Van so badly…But if something happened to Kat I would never forgive myself'_

They loaded the unconscious Folkon onto a cart, and after Hitomi had climbed aboard too, it set off toward Fanelia. As seeing Van again drew closer Hitomi grew slightly nervous. She had dreamt about this since she last left, just re-run after re-run in her mind of how it could have gone differently, how she could have stayed…or how she could have returned and everything would be right again.

The journey seemed to take minutes. But it was near dawn when they had finally reached the gates of the castle. Guymeluf's stood guard and Hitomi could hardly believe the difference six years had made. The city had been rebuilt to all of its glory and Hitomi stared in awe of the buildings that had been seemingly resurrected and given new life from the ashes.

The massive gates of the castle opened slowly and Hitomi was taken inside the great walls as a messenger went ahead to tell Van of her arrival.

Kat sank down next to a large rock and put her head in her hands. She had never felt so alone in her life. Course he wasn't helping, he reminded her of a lost puppy – the kind that follow you home then your parents won't let you have. There was no sign of Hitomi, no sign of any civilization anywhere and Kat had almost resigned herself to letting the animal people have her. She looked up at Dilandau,

"Do you have any idea where we are?"

"We're in a forest"

Kat scowled, as they walked she had discovered that this planet was called Gaea, the Earth was called the Mystic moon and hung there in the sky looking very far away and they were supposed to be near a place called Fanelia. Also that Dilandau used to work for someone or something called Zaibach. She put her head back in her hands and tried to wake up, praying that this was a bad dream. Her arms were steadily turning black and blue she had been pinching herself so much to make sure she wasn't having a nightmare.

Kat had to steady herself suddenly as the ground shook beneath her. Her head shot up; eyes fixed on Dilandau.

"What the hell was that?" He got to his feet and looked around.

"I don't know"

"Well you live in this nightmare of a place…what could make the ground shake like that?"

"Guymeluf's….land dragons…earthquakes…" he listed. "Though we haven't had an earthquake for about six or seven years."

"So what are the first two…you actually have REAL dragons here?"

"Yes"

"What's a Guymeluf?"

"You don't know what a Guymeluf is?"

"Hello I came from Ea…the Mystic moon remember"

"They are big metal fighting machines that are controlled by people."

"Oh goody..." Kat muttered sarcastically.

Dilandau studied the new girl from the Mystic moon, if she was the same as the last one…Hitomi, then she would be useful. After first being suppressed then extracted from Celena it had left him disorientated and confused. He had found himself wandering in the forest alone, but slowly he was sorting everything in his mind, and this girl would be useful.

'_No one to answer to anymore, I will rule over Gaea and nothing and no one will stand in my way, and this girl…this girl from the Mystic moon will help me, whether she knows it or not, I'll keep up this innocent act for now, but soon you will all see the real me.' _


	6. Wondering

Chapter 6

Wondering

"We are ready and waiting for your order Sir"

"Good."

"Sir?"

"Put the plan into action, Dryden won't know what hit him"

"Yes Sir"

A knock at the door just after dawn woke Van from a deep sleep.

"You're Majesty?"

"What?"

We have re…."

The door burst open and Merle came bounding in.

"Van, Van…she's back, she's here…come on, get out of bed"

"What?...who's here" he said sleepily, stifling a yawn

"HITOMI ! She came back, she's here" Van didn't say a word. He couldn't say a word. He was completely numb.

"VAN ! COME ON!"

"OK…" He pushed Merle out of the room, threw on some clothes, splashed cold water on his face and flattened his hair somewhat before pelting down the stairs and skidding into the entrance hall just as the doors opened. There she was; standing in the doorway as the sun rose behind her, illuminating her outline giving her a heavenly glow. Her hair had grown longer and she seemed a lot smaller that he remembered. She was so beautiful.

Hitomi gazed back at Van. He had grown a lot in six years and become a man, dark tussled hair still covered his head and familiar big, dark eyes looked at her.

'_Oh my god, its him, I can't believe I'm back'_

They both moved at the same time toward each other, but someone got their faster. Merle leapt on Hitomi and they both fell to the floor.

"You're BACK" she yelled. Hitomi burst out laughing as Van rather unceremoniously heaved Merle off her and pulled Hitomi to her feet. Then wrapped his arms around her and they were together again.

"This could pose a problem" growled Ayame under her breath from the shadows of a doorway.

Allen woke up and rubbed his eyes, before going to check on his sister and Eries. He opened the door and smiled to himself. Eries had fallen asleep next to Celena. He watched them for a time, they were both so beautiful.

'_Everything is finally going right.' _ He thought to himself as he sat on a chair in the room and folded his arms looking fondly at the two women.

They moved as silently as shadows, over the castle's defenses and into the castle itself. Everything was right were he had said it would be. They moved as thought they were one, together nothing could get in their way.

Silently they entered the room where Millerna was fast asleep then all at once they jumped on her. One stifling her yell as the other two bound, gagged and blindfolded her. They carried her out of the castle as silently as they had come in and left no trace that there had been anyone there.

Milerna was taken back to a Zaibach flying fortress that her captors had restored. She tried to kick and scream but the bonds were too tight, she was helpless.

'_Help me, someone please'_

"Well done, I trust it went well"

"Yes Sir"

"Now initiate the secondary phase"

"Yes sir, at once"

"Oh Van I missed you so much" said Hitomi as tears filled her eyes. Van pulled her into a tighter embrace, he seemed temporarily speechless. Time seemed to stop and they both wanted this moment to last forever.

"What should we do with him?" said one of the wolf men as they carried Folkon into the hall. Van looked up and Hitomi felt his mouth drop open.

"He was on Earth; he just appeared then Kat…OH my God. KAT! Van someone else came with me this time – as well as Folkon and she ran off, she's in the forest we have to find her." Van looked down at Hitomi and opened his mouth apparently trying to speak. But words failed him as he let go of Hitomi and walked towards Folkon. He looked down at his brother.

"I'm dreaming…I have to be dreaming"

"Then we are sharing a dream" said Hitomi with a smile. Van looked round at her and grinned back. Merle seemed to bounce in front of Hitomi; Merle had grown into a beautiful feline woman. She seemed to have grown into her ears a bit and now wore what could only be described as a cat-suit.

"Did you shrink?" she asked

"No, you grew" Hitomi said as she looked back at Van who had knelt down by Folkon.

"What happened to him?"

"I think he hit his head on something when we got transported here. He hasn't woken up yet"

"You say another came with you….Kat?"

"Yes we have to find her, we have to…I'd never forgive myself if anything happened to her."

"Yuki" Van called, a man came rushing into the hall.

"Yes your highness"

"Send a search party into the forest, find a girl called Kat, she will probably be dressed in strange clothes and be very scared. Bring her back here; tell her that you're taking her to Hitomi. Also get my brother into a room and make sure he is comfortable and I would like some breakfast if you will. Hitomi you need anything?"

"I err…I'm a bit hungry"

"Make sure there is enough for all of us"

"Yes Sir" said Yuki backing away then rushing out the room. Van walked back to Hitomi and took her hand.

"Come let's go find somewhere to sit" Hitomi nodded "Merle?"

"Yes"

"Could you deliver a message to Allen for me?"

"Oh…I…of course" she said smiling then bounding off. Van and Hitomi walked through the castle and sat on a balcony that over looked the whole kingdom.

"I can't believe I'm back" Hitomi said softly "Everything is so different"

"There is one thing I don't understand...how did you get back? I mean, I still have…" He pulled on a chain that was around his neck. Hitomi gazed at her pendant.

"Kat had one, only it was purple…then I was at school and she was sitting watching me then Folkon appeared kind of next to her. I went over as she gave him the pendant, then it glowed pink and then I was back here again"

"Well all that matters now is that your back" he said moving closer to her then putting his arm round her shoulders as they watched Fanelia slowly wake up. Hitomi gazed up at Van and whispered

"I haven't been truly happy…until now" Van smiled and brushed some hair out of her face.

"I missed you so much; it was like a part of me left with you"

"Van…." Hitomi started, but never finished as they got closer and suddenly Van's lips touched hers, and both of them soared into the heavens as they kissed.


	7. Missing

Chapter 7

Missing

The Castle was on full alert and Millerna was nowhere to be found. Dryden was pacing up and down the room, waiting for news of her. All the servants had found was an empty bed, the castle had been searched and the grounds were being scoured at this moment.

"Where are you Millerna?" he muttered. They had been married 3 years now. After Hitomi had left Millerna stayed at home for a time, then her Father had tried to arrange another marriage for her, she had come to him to escape it. During the next two years they had grown closer and Millerna confessed that she had loved him for a long time, Dryden reciprocated these feeling and they had married soon after. Now she was gone and Dryden was beside himself with worry, she had never disappeared like this before.

Kat woke up and she squinted slightly trying to work out where she was, before what ever she was leaning on moved. She sat up as it all came rushing back; she turned round and found herself leaning on Dilandau.

"WOAH! What? Why?"

"You fell asleep on me when we were resting" he said tonelessly

"I…oh…sorry…this isn't a nightmare is it? This is real and really am on another planet where there are animal people"

"Yep"

"Oh…ok then, just as long as I know." Dilandau stood up.

"We should get going if we are to find your friend"

"Yes…we should" Kats stomach growled "You don't have anything to eat do you?"

"No"

Dilandau started walking as Kat followed, He was leading her further and further away from Fanelia as it seemed that with everyday that passed some of his old self returned, as did the hate for Van, Allen and that girl….Hitomi, she had been Zaibach's downfall, His downfall.

"How long?"

"Two more minutes"

"Why don't we go now?"

"Because it's not the plan"

"It's just a little kid"

"A little kid that has had weapons and unarmed combat lessons since he could walk most likely" They stayed in the shadows and waited, their masters plan had worked last time, it should work this time too.

"Its time" one whispered as the three moved through the corridors into his room, but something wasn't right. He was awake and standing in the middle of the room staring at the three masked men that had just burst in.

"Who are you?" he questioned pointing his sword at them. The three men looked at each other.

"Your highness King Chid Zar Fried"

"Yes?"

"Shut up!"

"What?" before he could say another word the three masked men surged forwards and attacked the eleven year old King. They hadn't however counted on him defending himself, in a flash of metal, blood was spilled and one of the men dropped to the floor. His counterparts ignored the dieing man and jumped on Chid as they gagged him then wrenched his arms behind his back as he lay on the floor. His blond hair was soon soaked in blood from their dieing brethren as it spilled across the floor. The sword had struck an artery in his neck and also ripped the mask from his head, revealing a skeletal face, covered in scars from many, many fights. His eyes bulged as he struggled to breathe as death neared with every gasp of oxygen he took. Chid gaped in horror at the thing on the floor as he was carried out of the room. He was blindfolded then transported out of the castle and toward the former Zaibach fortress.

Merle arrived at the castle where Allen was staying as soon as she could, after being held up by the guards at the gate, she scaled the wall and ran into the castle, skidding slightly on the highly polished floors before bursting into the room. Waking Allen, Eries and Celena. Allen's eyes narrowed in the dimness of the room, trying to see who it was.

"Merle?"

"Yes its me, I have news"

"Of what"

"Hitomi's back"

"Back? What do you mean back"

"She came back; she's with Van now at Fanelia…Van thought you should know"

"Who's Hitomi?" said Celena. Allen spun round.

"Celena?"

"Yes"

"Are..are you? What do you remember…"

"I remember everything…but he's gone…Dilandau has gone from within me."

"Well I need to get back to Van" interrupted Merle as she walked out the room.

Allen watched her go before saying

"Celena, do you feel up to going to Fanelia? She nodded. "Princess Eries, would you like to accompany us?"

"I think I will, I have not been to Fanelia for a long time"

Van and Hitomi finally broke apart, they gazed into each other's eyes. Van smiled at her

"I think I waited my whole life for that moment" he whispered.

"Never let me go anywhere again" Hitomi replied, leaning back into him; happier than she'd ever been before.


	8. Revelations

Chapter 8

Revelations

Dilandau led Kat to a cave where he had once hidden while working for Zaibach.

"Where the hell is this supposed to be" Kat said "I thought we were going to that city…erm…Fanelia"

"Too bad you thought wrong" he growled as he unearthed a sword from behind a rock. Kat stared at the sword as he brandished it at her.

"You are going to do exactly as I say or I'm going to kill you! And don't bother running; you won't stand a chance out there alone. This area is rife with Land Dragons." He ignored the furious look that Kat was giving him and turned back into the cave to find the small amount of armor that was also buried here somewhere.

Kat was seething. He had tricked her. She looked around for something, a weapon anything, she picked up a hand sized rock and walked to the entrance of the cave, she could see him in the dim light and aimed carefully before throwing it at him as hard as she could. Kat heard a thud, then a groan of pain. He stood up holding his shoulder and walked towards her, holding the sword. Kat stood stock still and folded her arms, eyes fixed on Dilandau; if looks could kill Dilandau would be dead and buried.

"You shouldn't have done that" he said dangerously

"WHY? If the deranged guy with the sword isn't the most dangerous thing out here, then I'd rather take my chances with you than some nightmarish creature that I'll meet out there." She yelled at him furiously. Dilandau wasn't quite sure how to reply, he wasn't used to defenseless girls yelling back when threatened with a sword.

"I'll kill you"

"GO ON THEN, I rather be dead, then out on this god forsaken planet" She turned her back on him. Dilandau scratched his head as he debated what to do. He didn't want to kill her – well he did, but he needed her. He walked up to her and placed the sword blade on her shoulder, she tensed slightly.

'_Please don't kill me, please don't kill me'_

Dilandau hit out with his other fist, it connected with her head and she fell to the floor unconscious.

"Women" he growled as he dragged her into the cave.

Allen, Eries, Celena and Merle were making final preparations before leaving for Fanelia, when a messenger came galloping towards them, he barely stopped in time.

"Allen Shazar, I bring a message from King Dryden Fassa of Austauria"

"Go on" said Allen

"Queen Millerna has been kidnapped, and he requests your help in finding her"

"Millerna has been kidnapped? By who?"

"We do not know, she just disappeared" Allen looked at Merle

"Merle please inform Van of this, we will go to Austauria to see Dryden"

"Right!" she said and galloped off toward Fanelia., while Allen, Celena and Eries followed the messenger back to Austauria.

Hitomi and Van turned as there was a knock on the door.

"Yes" said Van. Yuki came in.

"Your highness" he paused "Erm…he… Lord Folkon is awake" Van and Hitomi jumped up and both ran to the room where Folkon had been placed. Van paused at the door before opening it slowly. There was his brother, his dead brother sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Folkon?" Van whispered, the man's head jerked up.

"That name sounds so familiar."

"It is your name" said Hitomi, stepping out from behind Van

"You…Its you? The girl from the track, where is the other one? The one that had the pendant," He looked around the lavishly furnished room. "Where am I?"

Kat slowly opened her eyes; he head was throbbing like she was having the mother of all migraines. She saw the ground moving beneath her as everything slid into focus. Kat tried to move some hair out of her face and found her hands bound behind her back. The moving suddenly stopped and she was practically dropped to the floor. She looked up and saw Dilandau. He was no longer in rags, but armor.

"Good you're awake. You can walk now" Kat just looked at him. "Go on then get up"

Kats brain was still trying to figure out what had happened when Dilandau lost his temper again and yanked her to her feet.

"WALK!" he yelled.

"What if I don't" she replied. He turned and looked at her. "If you were going to kill me you would have already, and you're not going to leave me here. Or you wouldn't have carried me all this way" The landscape had changed dramatically; they were no longer in forest, but a barren wasteland, with little but rocks and shrubs in every direction. Dilandau growled and dropped his sword and placed both hands round Kats neck and squeezed slightly.

"Go on do it" Kat snarled at him, he squeezed a bit more and Kat was struggling to breathe before he let go. She coughed but a satisfactory smirk was now spread across her face.

'_He won't kill me'_

Dilandau was seething with anger; he wanted nothing more than to wipe that smirk of her face by wrapping his hands round her neck and squeezing till all the life had gone from her body. But he needed her, he needed her alive…for now.

He turned away from her and focused on a nearby rock, trying to control himself.

"You are going to walk, and you are going walk NOW!" He growled, Kat then made a funny squeaky noise behind him that sounded like 'eeep' Dilandau turned round as Kat rushed past him, running as fast as she could with her hands bound behind her. He looked up and saw a Land Dragon moving quickly towards them.

"Dammit" he yelled and ran after Kat, he was gaining on her when she stumbled and fell, hitting the ground hard.

The Dragon was upon them more quickly than Dilandau had anticipated; it roared as Dilandau picked up his sword and prepared for the inevitable battle.

Between then Van and Hitomi had told Folkon most of what had happened to him, everything from his mother to Zaibach then his own death. Folkon didn't remember a thing.

"I have few memories of where I was or had been before I found myself at the track and I saw that other girl, Kat and something told me that she was important." Van took a deep breath and Hitomi knew this had been a long and trying day for him; first her return, then his brother seemingly coming back from the dead.

Yuki appeared at the doorway.

"King Fanel. The search party has returned."

"Well where is she"

"There were some tracks, they where then joined by another set – much larger, most likely a man. Then as the ground got harder and her tracks was lost."

"So you didn't find her?"

"No your highness, however it is believed that they were heading toward the wasteland" Van looked at Hitomi

"We have to keep looking" she pleaded. Van was organizing another search party when Merle returned with the news of Millerna's kidnap and Dryden's request for help.

"We'll set off first thing in the morning. There have been rumours of a new power rising for some time, but they were just rumors. But now…" Van trailed off as Ayame walked towards them.

"King Fanel, I was wondering whether you had made your decision, for I must inform my father of your decision as soon as possible." With everything that had happened Van had completely forgotten about it.

Due to unforeseen circumstances arising" Ayame shot a rather nasty look at Hitomi "I must visit Austauria at once and will inform you of my decision on my return"

"Yes, Thank you King Fanel" Ayame replied in an oddly strained voice before making a hasty exit. Hitomi stared after her as she left.

"Who was that?" she asked Van

"Oh err Ayame; she wanted something like permission to move an army across part of Faneilan territory. We should all get some sleep, everybody up early tomorrow." Van paused "Yuki. Ready the airship as well as Aetherius and Celeritas."

"Yes your highness"

"Mine and Merle's Guymeluf's" said Van seeing the blank look on Hitomi's face. "After all, Escaflowne…it's still dormant." Everyone went to their separate rooms; Van walked Hitomi to hers, kissed her goodnight and said

"See you in the morning"

Good night Van" she replied going into her room and letting herself fall onto the bed with a large grin on her face.

"Oh Van…." She muttered before drifting off into a peaceful sleep; filled with dreams of angels.


	9. Dragons and a Plan

Chapter 9

Dragons and a Plan

Dilandau and Kat were not having so much of a good time, Dilandau had been fighting with the dragon for ages and Kat was getting steadily more and more uncomfortable as the sun was slowly sinking below the horizon. She looked around and saw a sharp stone on the floor. Dilandau was too busy with the dragon to take any notice of what she was doing. She knelt on the floor and picked up the rock, it seemed to take forever before the rope holding her frayed and she could release her hands. Now free she watched Dilandau practically loose a leg and then she almost felt sorry for him. Kat wanted nothing more than to run, but there might be more dragons out there in the darkness and Dilandau was her only form of protection. Suddenly in a flash of claws Dilandau found himself pinned to the floor by the dragon's tail. It appeared to roar in victory as it went to bite Dilandau in half. But before it got too close a rock hit it square on the head, then another and another. It snarled at Kat who was now making rude gestures at it and yelling her head off.

"COME GET ME YOU BIG STINKING LIZARD, YOU FEEBLE EXCUSE FOR A DRAGON" She threw another rock and as the dragon's attention was taken away from Dilandau its tail loosened its hold on him. Kat continued yelling abuse at the dragon and throwing anything she could get he hands on; rocks, plants, dirt clods…

'_Good thing I used to play Rounder's all the bloody time' _she thought.

The dragon made a move towards Kat and Dilandau could now reach his sword, and once it was in his hand he thrust it into the dragon's tail. It roared in pain and annoyance as Dilandau struggled free and stabbed his sword into it again and again as it thrashed around. Dragon blood gushed from its wounds as it finally fell and let out a dieing shriek.

Kat studied Dilandau who had dropped to the floor breathing heavily and covered from head to toe in dragon blood and guts. She walked over to him and said

"That's a good look for you" he looked up at her and retorted

"Enjoy throwing rocks do you"

"Yes and its lucky do, because it saved your life didn't it?" Dilandau looked at the floor and used his sword to help him stand up. He walked up to Kat and looked down at her and she stared defiantly back at him.

"So where are you taking me anyways and why?" she asked suddenly, as she flicked some dragon entrails off his shoulder. Dilandau was rather taken aback by such a question.

"The only thing predictable about you is your unpredictability" he muttered stepping to one side and walking to the dragon and plunging his hand into its corpse and pulling out a glowing rock.

"I could say the same about you" she replied.

"Come on, the smell of blood will undoubtedly attract more of them" he said walking off.

Kat looked at the dead dragon for a moment before it turned to dust before her eyes and ran off after Dilandau.

She watched the two from the air, hovering on the wings of an angel. Knowing she would soon have to make her presence known soon. She had failed in her task and she had to face the consequences.

He wasn't supposed to be alive; he should be trapped within Celena.

"This is all my fault" she whispered

Millerna sat in her cell; cold and alone. Until the door opened and King Chid was literally thrown into the room and the door slammed and locked again. Millerna hurried over to him.

"Are you ok?" she asked, seeing large amount of dried blood on his hair. She undid the ropes that held him and the blindfold. He looked at her in confusion,

"Where am I? Queen Millerna?"

"I don't know, I was blindfolded as you were" she said softly "Are you injured?"

"No…I killed one of the things that brought me here, it's his blood." Chid paused

"Why are we here?"

"I don't know."

All hell had broken loose when the dead skeletal man had been discovered in King Fried's room. The King was now missing and the castle was in disarray.  
"How could it have happened?" was the question on everybody's lips. Eventually General Kado had taken command of the situation and the castle and grounds had been scoured for traces of the King or his kidnappers to no avail.

"Allen Shazar and King Fanel must be informed of this" he snarled and messengers were went to both, only to be forwarded to Austauria when they got there.

"It won't be long now" said Van as the airship neared Austauria, He was sat with Hitomi next to his Guymeluf as Folkon walked around staring at the Guymelufs in awe.

"What about Escaflowne?"asked Hitomi

"It's still dormant, and has been since you left." Van paused "Do you reckon he will remember who he is?"

"I don't know" she replied

"King Fanel we are approaching Austauria" said Yuki

"Thank you"

"You have done well, but your next two missions will be the most dangerous, I need two more hostages, and I doubt you will escape without having to fight Van Fanel or Allen Shazar or possibly both. Now go."

The left in silence both had heard the rumors about Van and Allens swordsmanship, and after their brethren had been killed by an eleven year old. Both were now somewhat unsure of themselves.

Allen, Celena and Eries had just arrived at Austauria when Van's airship was pulling into the dock. Dryden came out to meet them, he had obviously not been getting any sleep and the bags under his eyes were highly visible.

"Welcome, welcome" he said as they followed him into the castle. They went into the conference room and waited, soon enough Van, Hitomi and Merle joined them. Allen just stared at Hitomi as she entered the room, she had grown her hair.

"Hitomi" he whispered and moved slightly with the intention to hug her. He was cut off by Van who chose that moment to go talk to Dryden who had seemingly collapsed on a chair out of sheer exhaustion. Before shooting a 'don't even think about it' look at Allen while deep in conversation with Dryden.

"Hi Allen" said Hitomi quietly

"Hello" he replied "How did you, I mean…."

"Get back?"

"Yes"

"It's a long story…" Allen moved towards her again and pulled her into a hug, she suddenly seemed so young. 6 years seemed longer than ever. When he let go Hitomi looked around and saw Van giving Allen another rather evil look. Allen however seemed not to notice and introduced Hitomi to the now Dilandau free Celena.

"Ok" said Dryden suddenly "Now back to the matter at hand, Millerna has been kidnapped"

"Any leads on who did it?" asked Van as he walked back over to Hitomi, stood behind her and placed his hands on her shoulders.  
"Not a one. Nobody saw anything, the whole castle and grounds have been scoured and the city is being turned upside down as we speak."

"Someone's coming" said Merle suddenly her sensitive hearing picking up footfalls.

Two messenger burst through the door, both having the same message, one for Allen and one for Van.

"His highness King Chid has been kidnapped; no living culprits have been apprehended." Both of them handed Allen and Van a detailed report of what had happened and the skeletal man that had been found dead in the king's chamber.

"This can't be good" said Merle.


	10. Are we there yet ?

Chapter 10

Are we there yet ?

"Are we there yet?"

"No"

"Are we there yet?"

"No"

"Are we there yet?"

"NO"

"Are we there yet?"

"NO NO NO NO NO!" roared Dilandau

"I'm hungry"

"DO YOU EVER SHUTUP"

"No"

"Are we…"

"You ask that question one more time and I'll knock you out"

"Least I won't have to walk anymore" Kat muttered. She was hungry and thirsty and her feet hurt and more than anything she was tired, past tired; she was exhausted.

"I won't carry you this time, I'll drag you"

"Still better than walking" An insane grin suddenly crossed Dilandau's face as he looked at the horizon and Kat gaped at it "What the hell is that"

"A flying fortress" He walked faster and Kat was struggling somewhat to keep up with him.

"Even if we do get to it, how the hell are we gonna get up there?" Dilandau stopped; he apparently had missed this tiny flaw in his plan. A wisp of smoke suddenly came from somewhere on the ground beneath the fortress. He grinned.

"That won't be a problem" he said taking up the fast walking again.

Here we go again

They traveled once again to Austauria and entered the castle without anyone noticing so much as a shadow. They watched until the castle was sleeping. They watched Allen Shazar and Van Fanel go to their bedrooms before moving towards the targets. They were going to have to take both girls in one night, which wasn't going to be easy. Any hint of foul play and they would have to fight every man in the vicinity to escape.

"Come Golin" he whispered as the door of Celena's room was pushed ajar. They entered and after a small struggle Celena had been disabled and could neither move nor cry out.

Hitomi woke up suddenly and looked around her bedroom. Nothing stirred, noting made a sound. She got out of bed and went to the window and stared out of it. The ground seemed peaceful, almost eerily so. He bedroom door creaked and she froze.

"Hitomi?" She turned around and found Merle standing in the doorway

"Merle?"

"Can we talk?"

"Erm…sure." They sat down on the bed and Hitomi studied Merle.

"Do you love him?"

"Van?" Hitomi asked

"Yes"

"I do."

"Because you are all he's thought about these past six years, every spare second he'd had have been filled with you. No one else notices…." Merle trailed off and Hitomi could tell she was listening.

"What is it….?"

"Shhhhhhhhhh" Merle replied before forcing her back on the bed and going to stand behind the door. They waited in silence until the door opened and two masked figures appeared in the room. They went for Hitomi and she sat up in shock as Merle let out a piercing scream. They spun round instantly; Merle launched herself at one, kicking punching and scratching for all she was worth. The other one was trying to restrain Hitomi who was also struggling and yelling for all she was worth.

Van and Allen both heard the screams and jumped out of bed grabbing their swords, Allen rushed straight to Celena's room only to find the bed empty. Van however went straight to Hitomi and found her and Merle struggling with the two men. He raised his sword and slashed at the man attacking Hitomi, he yelled and turned to face Van as Allen skidded into the room. He too raised his sword and stormed towards the man who was attacking Merle. Allen and Merle between them wounded the man fatally and he lay on the floor dieing.

"WAIT" screamed the other one as he watched his brethren fall. He had realized that he had no chance against the two angry men.

"I….I can give you information on where the King and Queen are, if you spare my life."

Allen and Van looked at each other.

"Talk" snarled Van

"They are held captive within the floating fortress."

"There are no floating fortress's left."

"My…my Master restored one of the damaged Zaibach ones, it is now more powerful than even he imagined. The fortress was last over the wasteland, I know not if it has been moved."

"Where is Celena?" growled Allen

"She is in an empty room on the forth floor" Allen rushed off and Van pressed his sword to the man's throat.

"Why have you been kidnapping people?"

"My master wanted a hostage from each of the major nations, to ensure their resistance was minimal when he overthrew them. He has taken Queen Milerna, King Fried and tonight we were to take Celena and the girl from the Mystic Moon hostage, to ensure that you and Allen would not put up a fight for fear of their safety."

"Merle, go and get some guards and tell them to bring something to tie him up with."

Dryden was pacing again. As the others watched, Allen staying close to Celena and Van had refused to let go of Hitomi, though Hitomi and Celena insisted that their almost over eager body guards waited elsewhere when they visited the bathroom.

"So Millerna is in a flying fortress. Which was last over the wasteland; so we should go and get her NOW?"

Hitomi was thinking and suddenly said

"KAT!" everyone stared at her. "Van…Kat…the tracks in the forest were leading towards the wasteland. Someone could have taken her there; she could be at the fortress." Van nodded.

"We need to go the fortress to rescue Chid and Millerna." He looked at Hitomi "And search for Kat while we are there"


	11. Decisions

Chapter 11

Decisions 

Kat peered over the cliff and saw about five giant robots and about a thousand men working in the valley.

"So those are Guymeluf's?"

"Yes" said Dilandau who was eyeing them with an insane grin on his face.

"So…what happens now?"

"I steal one"

"Oh…ok….YOU WHAT!" said Kat suddenly realizing what he had said.

"I will steal one and I will use it to get to the flying fortress."

"Hey you are not leaving me here when there are all those dam dragons around, where ever you go I'm coming with" Dilandau studied her

"You want to stay with me?"

"I want to not be eaten by a dragon…and the only way I can see to prevent being eaten by a dragon is to stay with you." She replied looking hard at the Guymeluf's before her.

'_Oh come on that is so a lie, you like him and you know it. He's cute, fit and fights dragons, he's also crazy and probably homicidal but you'll just have to work through that' _muttered the voice in her head.

Allen was faced with a hard decision; he wanted to protect Celena with every ounce of his being. But taking her to fight an improved Zaibach fortress was likely to get her killed.

"Celena"

"Yes"

"I would like you to stay here, with Princess Eries"

"But why brother?"

"Because it will be dangerous and I would never forgive myself if something happened to you" said Allen softly

"I understand" she replied as they hugged.

"Folkon are you alright to stay here and protect Princess Eries and Celena?" asked Van.

"Due to my lack of memory I wouldn't recognize who was an enemy and who was a friend. Even though I know how to fight, so I feel I will be more useful protecting the Princess and Allen's sister."

"Thank you" said Van, he had tried to convince Hitomi to stay behind, and she had refused immediately.

They boarded the airship and looked out the windows until Austauria had disappeared from view. Van had gone to check the Guymeluf's as Hitomi got something to eat from the chef. She had been sat with Dryden but he had been called to take care of something and when Allen arrived for his meal she was sat alone.

"Is this seat taken?" he asked her

"Oh. Hi Allen. No, no its not." Allen sat down and they sat in silence for a time before Hitomi said  
"So how've you been? I mean six years is a long time for stuff to happen in"

"It is a long time" he paused looking directly into her eyes "Very little has happened since you left. I think I will go as far to say that it has been almost dull." He continued with a smile. Hitomi smiled back as she looked into Allen's eyes, they were still hypnotic.

"So Hitomi how have you been?" he asked her.

"I've been ok…I missed this place more than I thought I would, and the people even more…all I thought about when I got home was getting back, and now I'm here its like a dream."

"So dreams really do come true then" Allen said. They had both finished their meal and Allen offered to escort Hitomi until she found Van, and she was quietly glad of his company as the airship was large and she didn't know her way about.

"So who is Kat?" Allen asked

"Kat, she had a pendant…that's how we got here. Only it was strange, it was purple until Falkon touched it, then it glowed pink and we were here again."

"Why was it purple?"

"I don't know, she said it turned purple about a year ago, which was when I returned home from here" Allen said nothing for a time.

"Something must have happened when you left, I'm certain that the rumors of a new power rising started about 6 months after you left, but that's all they were, rumors."

They reached the Guymeluf bay and found Van giving out some instructions to Yuki, while Merle was tinkering with her Guymeluf. Van caught sight of her and smiled, then saw Allen and his face dropped.

"I will see you later Hitomi" said Allen "I have some business to take care of"

"Oh…ok good bye" she replied and then walked over to Van as Allen left the bay.

"Hi Van"  
"You two catch up then?" he said almost coldly. Hitomi suddenly realized what Van must think, after all she and Allen had…

"Van, there is nothing between me and Allen anymore, except that we are still good friends" she dropped her voice slightly

"My heart belongs to you and no one else"

"I know…I'm sorry, it's just…" Vans voice trailed off as he wrapped his arms round Hitomi as though he would never let her go.

Kat followed Dilandau down into the valley, both of them staying low as they could. They stopped behind a large boulder for a time while Dilandau watched the activity going on below them.

"Not since Zaibach has anything this big been organized" he muttered before darting out again and getting closer to the nearest Guymeluf. Kat followed suit and soon they were both about 200 yards away crouched behind a crate of supplies; with nothing but open space between them and the Guymeluf.

"What now?" Kat whispered. Dilandau just looked at her and stood up and confidently walked towards the Guymeluf.

"And he says I'm unpredictable…." Kat watched as he got within a meter of the Guymeluf before being challenged. Dilandau drew his sword and with a flash of metal the man was dead. Dilandau climbed into the Guymeluf and Kat watched in awe as the front closed on him and it stood up. Then walked towards her, she backed away as the giant robot approached, only to be scooped up by a giant metallic hand.

"Stay still" said Dilandau's voice from inside the Guymeluf. She nodded and watched as the rest of the camp seemed to realize that something was wrong.

They surged toward Dilandau and Kat raising weapons. Some of them also climbed into other Guymelufs. Dilandau drew a sword from the back of his Guymeluf and slashed with it, cutting men in half, Kat could maniacal laughter coming from Dilandau and it unnerved her slightly as she clung to the hand of the giant metal robot that carried her.

Soon the enemy Guymelufs were upon them and Dilandau cut them down one at a time. Kat turned just in time to see one sneaking up behind them.

"BEHIND YOU!" she screamed and Dilandau turned round just in time to parry with his sword then disable it. The fighting went on for some time, and by the time Dilandau had finished there was little left of the camp.

The smoldering remains seemed to drop away when the Guymeluf surged off the ground. Kat whimpered and she clung on to whatever she could. Heights didn't bother her, what so ever, however being kept alive at the whim of a maniac miles above the ground did. They flew toward the fortress eventually landing on it in a massive bay that housed at lease 20 Guymelufs. Kat didn't even notice that Dilandau had set her down and climbed out. She just stood staring only to be jerked out of it when Dilandau grabbed her arm and pulled her down the center of the bay.


	12. Old Friends Old Enemies and New Feelings

Chapter 12

Old Friends, Old Enemies and New Feelings

As the airship approached the wasteland the flying fortress was almost immediately visible as they left the forest, it was only a small dot in the distance but it was there. Merle appeared behind Van.

"I don't think we'll be able to defeat what ever is in there, it's too big"

"Well we have to try" replied Van "We can't just leave Mill…" Merle cut him off.

"I don't mean we should leave them, I mean we could use some bigger guns" she said looking hard at him. Van didn't understand at first but he soon realized.

"Escaflowne" he whispered "I should go now…tell everyone where I have gone, I will return shortly. Hitomi…look after yourself." he said to her. She nodded and stood by Merle as Van climbed into Aetherius and leapt from the airship. He hit the ground stood up and began to run toward Fanelia.

The airship drew closer and closer to the fortress and when they got the valley they stared at the destruction beneath them.

"What would have the power to do this" whispered Merle to Hitomi. There were bodies everywhere and Guymeluf's were in pieces all over the floor. They encountered little resistance in the valley but as they approached the fortress it appeared something was stirring. The windows glowed green and almost as if on cue the airship was hit by several bolts of cannon fire that appeared to come from the fortress itself.

Merles sharp eyes soon realized that the fire had actually come from Guymeluf's.

"They're able to use invisibility cloaks in the air" she said frantically as she ran towards the deck followed by Hitomi.

"We need to leave before the ship is blown to pieces" she cried skidding though the door onto the deck. We can't possibly fight something we can't see…"

Dilandau killed any person that approached him as he dragged Kat though corridor after corridor. His grip on her arm seemed to get tighter as they neared their destination. Dilandau finally burst though some doors and they came face to face with a young, dark haired man with almost black eyes giving orders to a soldier that knelt before him.

His face turned from annoyance to shock as he gazed at Dilandau. Dilandau's grip on Kats arm weakened and she yanked it away, examining the red mark from where he had pulled her along.

"Kamlyn!" growled Dilandau. "I should have known" Kat watched the two men with some unease, the solider that had been kneeling before Kamlyn was now standing and had his sword drawn. She moved behind Dilandau and peered our from behind him.

"I thought you were dead" said Kamlyn

"It's going around" replied Dilandau with a smirk on his face.

"How did you get in here?"

"It wasn't that hard you should really think about hiring some decent swordsmen"

"Do I have any men left at all?"

"Only the ones that didn't get in my way"

"Who's the girl?" asked Kamlyn looking at Kat. Dilandau grabbed Kat again and roughly pushed her in front of him. Kat responded with a swift hard kick to Dilandau's shin which made him wince.

"She came from the mystic moon" snarled Dilandau glaring at Kat who looked defiantly back at him and folded her arms in protest.

"Really…well that's interesting" said Kamlyn who got up and walked over to Kat and studied her. Kat turned round and faced Kamlyn.

"So who are you?" she asked studying the man before her. He was well dressed, and sported black and emerald green armor that put Dilandau's red, battle worn, bloodstained attire to shame.

"I am Kamlyn, Captain of this flying fortress and leader of Debiru Rejoinii." He bowed and took Kats hand and kissed it.

"Erm…hi I'm Kat" she replied, slightly embarrassed. "Though it is nice find that gentlemen do exist on this planet" she continued with a disapproving sideways look at Dilandau that he returned with a scowl.

"Come now you must be tired from your journey" Kamlyn began "Let me escort you to a room where you can rest and eat."

"Thank you" Kat replied as she allowed herself to the escorted to a room by Kamlyn.

"I will have food brought up to you, any preferences" Kat shook her head as she knelt down on the bed, suddenly realizing how tired she was.

Kamlyn shut the door gently then turned a key in the lock. He turned and looked at Dilandau's face.

"Do you really think that she would have co-operated had I dragged her to a cell at sword point." He growled.

"And there was me thinking that you had gone soft" Dilandau replied

"It's the one thing I haven't done" he said as he started up the corridor. "Would you like to see what I have procured while you were dead?" he asked Dilandau with an air of superiority.

They walked side by side down to the cell bay, where Kamlyn opened a door and Dilandau stared at Millerna and King Chid.

"That's quite a catch" he said as Kamlyn slammed the door as Chid approached. I'm quite proud of it, though I did have plans to have the other girl from the mystic moon brought here along with Allen Shazar's sister. Dilandau growled at the memory of being trapped within Celena.

"Have you anywhere I can rest?" he asked

"Of course, come."

Dilandau lay on the bed thinking of all that had happened since he had been torn from Celena, indeed it had felt like a part of himself was missing for a time. Then less than a week after it had happened he found himself in the forest and bumped into Kat. It was strange but he felt oddly protective of her. He had never met any girl like her, she still had the shyness and weakness of a woman from Gaia, yet with a fire that made her stand up to anyone or anything, even a massive land dragon, she could have just left. Yet she stayed and saved my life. Dilandau drifted off into a shallow sleep, hand clutched around his sword, he didn't trust Kamlyn one bit.

Van ran, his Guymeluf leaving huge footprints as he sprinted towards Fanelia, towards Escaflowne. He finally reached the gates of his city and stood before the dormant Escaflowne, a dragon energist in his hand. He placed a small cut on his hand before thrusting the energist into the heart of Escaflowne, and then watched as the Guymeluf came alive once again.

He climbed into it and it was like he had never been away from it.

"Come on Escaflowne" he said "Lets so save Millerna and Chid." Escaflowne once again became apart of his thoughts and transformed into its dragon form.

"FASTER" Van yelled and Escaflowne obliged. He had forgotten how good it felt to have the wind in his hair as they flew towards Hitomi.


	13. Hero

Chapter 13

Hero?

Kamlyn watched from the bridge of his ship as the invisible Guymelufs fired upon the airship, destroying things had always brought a certain satisfaction. Though creating weapons that caused destruction was more fun. He had steadily been building this fortress for years and it would soon be completed, then he would rule over Gaia.

Dilandau's appearance had been somewhat of a shock, and the only reason he hadn't died at Kamlyns hand was the girl, Kat; from the mystic moon. She had been a pleasant surprise. He took a deep breath, no woman had been in his presence for almost 8 months, and now one walks in and is completely at his mercy, the opportunity was too good to pass up.

He left the bridge in the hands of his second of command and went to visit Kat. He unlocked the door almost silently, she was fast asleep. He sat on the side of the bed and gently moved the hair from her face; she was so beautiful and young. He stroked her face with his finger and she shifted in her sleep slightly before opening her eyes to find Kamlyn leaning over her. She bolted upright.

"Shhhhhh calm down" he whispered

"W…what are you doing?" Kat said unsure what to make of the whole situation.

"You are the most beautiful creature I have seen in a long time" Kamlyn said as he placed his hand on her leg. Kat scrambled away from him only to corner herself.

"Go away…I…I'll scream"

"Who is going to hear you?" Kamlyn replied a smirk on his face as he lunged towards her.

"ME!" snarled a voice behind him. Kamlyn felt a rush of pain in his back followed by a burning sensation in his gut and looked down to see a sword coming though his stomach; he turned and found Dilandau behind him.

"You" he spluttered as blood began to pour from his mouth before he fell to the floor twitching and gasping for breath as Dilandau pulled the sword from his body and let the blood drip from it onto his face with a smirk of satisfaction. He looked up at Kat who was staring at the body.

"You ok?" he asked looking away, not quite believing that he had just killed to save a girl. Kat said nothing and stayed perfectly still, like she had been petrified. He bent down and wiped the blood from his sword on the bed sheets. Then suddenly felt Kats arms round his neck, she was shaking like a leaf.

"He…he was going too…too" she said before her words dissolved into sobs. Dilandau was at a loss of how to react. This girl would take on a dragon, but a mere man could reduce her to tears. He put his arms around her waist and stood up, carrying her to the other side of the room away from the body. He set her down and looked at her tear stained face as her arms moved from his neck to around his waist.

"He's dead now." Dilandau said as he looked into her eyes.

"How….how did you know?" It took awhile for Dilandau to realize what she was asking.

"I…I don't know, I just woke up and came here, then I saw him and you and then I killed him…I never liked him anyway" Kat smiled and tightened her grip slightly.

"Thank you" she whispered.


	14. Blast to the Past

Chapter 14

Blast to the Past

The fortress suddenly rocked, then again and Dilandau and Kat broke apart and ran to the bridge, only to find…  
"ESCAFLOWNE!" growled Dilandau. Kat watched as a giant white dragon flew past being steered by a man.

"What's an Escaflowne?" asked Kat.

"We need to go!" replied Dilandau and grabbed her hand and pulled her to the Guymeluf bay…

Van steered Escaflowne, weaving and dodging the fire from the invisible enemies, while Allen and Merle and some of the crew took out as many as they could from the ground. Hitomi had joined him from the airship and using her old pendant that Van had returned to her, she guided Van to were the Guymeluf's were and Escaflowne took them out one by one.

"How did I ever manage without you" Van yelled above the battle that was going on around them. Hitomi grinned and pointed into mid air, Van steered Escaflowne right at the invisible target that Hitomi was guiding him towards.

The tip of its claws clipped the target which off balanced the guymeluf enough to disorientated the person inside, Van then circled back around and practically landed Escaflowne on top of the floundering Guymeluf who's engines could not cope with the extra weight and failed and the Guymeluf dropped to the ground like a rock. Van employed this strategy again and again, though soon realized that there were too many for him to continue.

"Van get into the fortress" Hitomi cried as he dodged another bout of weapons fire. He nodded and at his first opening Van was hurtling towards the Guymeluf bay. Van landed and he and Hitomi climbed from Escalflowne two figures ran into the bay, one dragging the other slightly.

Van drew his sword ready to fight as Hitomi stood behind him.

"KAT!" Hitomi suddenly yelled rushing past Van as her friend came into the light. But suddenly she felt Van holding her back, and she knew why. There holding Kat was Dilandau, but how it wasn't possible. Dilandau was Celena or he had been.

"Let go of her!" Van growled to Dilandau, who had skidded to an abrupt halt and drawn his sword. Kat saw Hitomi and her first instinct was to run towards her friend, but she felt safe here, with him and out there was nothing but uncertainty. So she stayed still.

Van let go of Hitomi and moved towards Dilandau and Kat.

"He's coming" whispered Kat, unsure whether to be glad or frightened, because this man obviously didn't like Dilandau.

"Let her go" Van repeated. Dilandau turned and looked at Kat.

"Stay here" he said shortly before letting go of her and walking towards Van.

The two swords clashed the sound of metal on metal reverberating through the bay. While the two girls watched, each one fearful for one of the men who parried, and blocked one another in a fight that made them loose all sense of their surroundings.

Hitomi and Kat both watched, stepping aside if the fight threatened to come too near. Both girls soon found each other too near to resist any longer and rushed to each other, both speaking at the same time.

"Are you ok?"

"How did you get here?"

"Who's he?" Kat asked before Hitomi suddenly got a hold of herself.

"Kat you have to come with me and Van where you can be safe." She said frantically, Kat stepped back from her.

"But I feel safe with Dilandau, he saved my life more than once" Hitomi didn't know what to say or do.

"But he's insane"

"But when I'm with him it's the only place I feel safe on this entire planet." Alarms suddenly started going off and the two girls watched as the bay began to fill with soldiers, unnoticed by the two men, still locked in their fight.

"Van" Hitomi muttered

"Dilandau" Kat whispered. Neither man heard them and the girls looked at one another half annoyed and half frantic about their current situation.

"You reckon if we scream they will notice?" whispered Kat

"It's perfectly fine with me" growled a voice behind them as they were roughly pulled backwards and blades placed at their throats. Both girls yelped in surprise as the cold metal was pressed against their throats.

"Well look what we have here, King Van Fanel and the supposedly dead Dilandau Albatou leader of the Dragon Slayers." Both Dilandau and Van looked up, their blades still locked in combat.

"Hitomi!" Van cried out and lowered his sword. At any other time Dilandau would have taken this chance to finish Van forever. But his eyes were fixed on Kat, on that sword at her neck. She was his, they were touching her. The man who had spoken before stepped forward; he was obviously the new Captain, after all Dilandau had murdered Kamlyn.

"Drop your weapons, or I'll see to it that these two young ladies will never see the light of day again." Both men hesitated and looked around, they couldn't save the girls and fight their way out at the same time and Hitomi and Kat could both see this too. Van lowered his sword and placed it on the floor, whereas Dilandau though he had lowered it, still was unwilling to abandon his weapon.


	15. Kat Fight

Chapter 15

Kat Fight

Kat's mind was racing, as was Hitomi's. They looked at each other, desperately searching for inspiration. The both got it.

Hitomi caught site of Escaflowne, of course! Van didn't need to be in it to control it. Van finally caught her eye, and followed her line of sight to his Guymeluf. He nodded slightly and began to concentrate. Escaflowne began to stir.

Kat mean while was going for a more direct approach, and in a burst of energy she brought her heel down hard on her captor's foot then elbowed him in the ribs. She slipped out from under his arm, and then ran towards Dilandau.

In the middle of the confusion Van brought Escaflowne into the fight, it swept away men like ants as Van controlled it with his thoughts. Hitomi struggled against the man who held her, employing the same tactics as Kat, though being scooped up by Escaflowne before she had time to run. Van picked up his sword sheathed it and climbed into the Guymeluf, before anyone could stop him. Dilandau however was in a much worse predicament. He and Kat had been surrounded as men began running at Dilandau, swords drawn. He cut them down one after another casting bodies aside like rubbish. They finally figured out that one on one wasn't going to work so all of them ran at him at once. Kat knelt down and picked up a sword from one of the dead men's bodies, it was heavier that she had anticipated, but she wasn't going down without a fight. Kat pointed it at a soldier who was running towards her and thrust it forward. It caught him in the tiny gap between his armor, and unable to halt his run the blade went straight through him stopping at the hilt.

Kat looked up and saw his face, it was twisted in pain, anger and lost pride. He had been defeated by a small girl. He fell over dead as Kat watched in horror, she had killed a man. She was a murderer. Escaflowne suddenly scooped her up and began to walk away leaving Dilandau to face the rest of the soldiers.

"NO!" yelled Kat at the top of her lungs. "GO BACK GO BACK YOU CAN'T LEAVE HIM. PLEASE!" Van kept walking. Hitomi watched hopelessly, not knowing whether to tell Van to go back or carry on and leave Dilandau to his fate. She suddenly realized something.

"Van! We have to go back! Millerna and Chid are still here" Vans steps faltered and that was all Kat needed, she climbed up Escaflowne's arm and slithered down its body to the ground, before running once again towards Dilandau, grabbing another sword from a dead man on her way. She reached Dilandau just as the new Captain was about to behead him, then holding the sword like a hockey stick, she swung it into his legs as hard as she could. It went through flesh and bone cutting off one leg and embedding itself in the bone of the other. The scream that the Captain let out would haunt her for the rest of her days, as he fell over clutching the bleeding stump of his leg. Dilandau struggled to his feet just in time as another man swiped at him with a sword. Kat was still stood looking at the Captain. She had killed and crippled two men within the space of 10 minutes, what was she becoming.

Van swept away the last remaining soldiers and placed Hitomi down next to Kat.

"Van we need to find Millerna and Chid" said Hitomi as Dilandau wiped the blood from his sword on a body nearby.

"I know where they are" said Dilandau quietly; both Hitomi and Van looked at Dilandau in shock, as being helpful wasn't normally one of his attributes.

"How?"

"The Captain, the original Captain showed me….then I killed him." He trailed off, still staring at Kat.

"Where are they?" asked Van. Dilandau began to tell him but van cut him off. "How do I know this isn't a trap?"

"Did the men on this fortress ACT like my allies" Dilandau growled, as some of his old rage returned

"So what now?" asked Kat, who still seemed to have a glazed look on her face.

"We need to find Millerna and Chid" said Hitomi anxiously "Dilandau says he knows where they are"

"Let's go then, I don't like being here…with all these bodies."

"Dilandau" growled Van "Show us the way…I swear if this is some kind of trick" Dilandau began to walk towards the corridor at the end of the bay. While Kat stayed with Hitomi and Van for a time before she went ahead and walked with Dilandau.

Van slipped his hand into Hitomi's and took a deep breath, his other hand on his sword.

"So what do you think?" he asked quietly

"About what"

"Them, those two, Kat and Dilandau"

"Oh err, I dunno. I mean we didn't have too much time to girl talk with all the fighting. But perhaps Dilandau has changed." Van didn't look convinced "Van look at him. Would old Dilandau allow anyone to get that close to him" Van made a funny 'hhmph' sound and Hitomi smiled as the followed Dilandau deeper into the fortress.

The last enemy Guymeluf had fallen and Allen was agitated, Hitomi and Van had been in that fortress way too long, he had been pacing up and down the Guymeluf bay in the partly decrepit airship waiting for Escaflowne to return.

"Will you stay still!" growled Merle who was repairing her Guymeluf after it got damaged in the battle. "Van and Hitomi will come back; they are probably having trouble finding Chid and Millerna."

Allen gripped his sword tightly, silently vowing to kill anyone that had laid a hand on his son. He waited for about 10 more minutes before climbing into Scherazade and leaping from the airship before ordering one of the crew of the airship to take him up to the fortress in of the enemy Guymeluf's.

"Men"sighed Merle as she watched him.

They had encountered very little resistance on the way to the cell where Millerna and Chid were being kept. Dilandau reached the door and looked at Van.

"It's locked" he said tonelessly. Van looked at the door, it looked to be thick, and some sort of metal, there was no way swords could get through it.

"Well where's the key?" asked Van.

"How the hell should I know?"

"Let me try something" said Kat taking a clip from her hair, kneeling down and fiddling with the lock.


	16. Rescue

Chapter 16

Rescue

"What are you doing?" asked Dilandau.

"Saw it in a movie once or twice, not convinced it will work, but it's worth a try"

"What's a movie?" asked Van and Dilandau together before glaring at each other.

"Tell you later" said Hitomi watching Kat fiddle with the door. Suddenly it clicked and Kat sat back in surprise before replacing the clip into her hair.

"Wow…it worked" Dilandau helped her to her feet as Van opened the door, a small blond object ran into him, causing him to fall over. Millerna appeared at the doorway and let out a shriek of surprise when she saw Hitomi standing looking at Van who was on the floor with a bemused look on his face as he removed Chid from on top of him and got up and brushed himself off.  
"I must apologize King Fanel" said Chid looking at the floor "I thought that you were the person that brought us food, I was hoping to escape and take Queen Millerna to safety."

"Its ok" muttered Van

"Sorry to interrupt your reunion" said Dilandau "But I would personally like to leave"

"He's got a point" said Kat "I mean there might be more soldiers" Chid and Millerna just stared at Dilandau and Kat.

"What's? But isn't that…how is it possible?" gasped Millerna, Dilandau rolled his eyes where as Kat just looked confused.

"We should go" said Dilandau shortly, before turning and walking back down the corridor, followed by Kat who was still confused.

"Come on" said Van "Before we loose them" Chid, Millerna and Hitomi nodded.

When they reached the Guymeluf bay Dilandau had his sword drawn and was slowly advancing toward…

"ALLEN!" yelled Hitomi, Both Dilandau and Allen spun round in shock. Allen went pale and drew his sword when he saw Dilandau, and Van ran over to fight side by side with Allen. Millerna had grabbed hold of Chid to stop him running into the fight too.

Kat calmly walked over to Hitomi.

"Could you please explain things to me? Is that Allen guy evil ?"

"No….but Dilandau is…was…, Van and Allen had a whole mortal enemy thing going"

"Ok so who's the good guy?"

"Allen and Van"

"Right, why are they enemies?"

"Six years ago or one year on earth Dilandau destroyed Fanelia – Vans kingdom and a lot of other bad stuff."

"So why does Allen hate him?"

"Because Dilandau is Allen's little sister" said Hitomi tentatively

"Oh…ok…pardon WHAT ?"

"Some sorcerers did something to Allen's little sister Celena, and she turned into Dilandau. Then she turned back awhile ago." explained Hitomi.

"So Dilandau is really a girl?"

"No…well yes…I don't know, I met Celena before. Did you meet Dilandau in the forest" Kat nodded "Have you been with him since?"

"Yeah pretty much"

"So they must be two separate people now"

"Ok that makes me feel slightly better" said Kat, there was a clash of blades behind her as the three men began to fight.

"Oh God one of them is going to get killed" muttered Hitomi as Van narrowly missed a swipe from Dilandau's sword.

"We could stop them together" said Kat, you take Van, I'll grab Dilandau and could you grab Allen" she continued turning to Millerna. Hitomi nodded, but Millerna looked apprehensive.

"Look all we have to do is get in the middle of them when they break apart or yell or something" said Kat desperately "Or one of them is going to be killed." Millerna nodded. Whereas Chid just looked annoyed.

"What am I supposed to do?" he asked

"Help Millerna" said Hitomi as they edged closer to the fight, all three of them wincing when the swords came close to cutting flesh. Dilandau was rapidly loosing ground against two opponents and as he tripped backwards over a body Kat, Hitomi, Millerna a Chid rushed in the middle.

"Hitomi! What are you doing?" said Van

"Queen Millerna, King Chid!" gasped Allen, Kat however had grabbed a sword lying on the ground and was brandishing it at Dilandau who was still on the floor.

"You never told me you destroyed a city…when you were FIFTEEN! OR the being a girl once thing OR that you and Van were mortal enemies, what! Did you think I wouldn't have found out" Everyone, especially Dilandau was watching Kat.

"I almost feel sorry for him" muttered Allen to Van who nodded in agreement. Kat sighed, helped Dilandau to his feet and turned round.

"I want to leave here now."

"Oh, sorry none of you are leaving" said a female voice, they all turned round and found

"Ayame?" said Van

"You shouldn't have made me wait for your answer, I have very little patience for good guys" A large Guymeluf appeared behind her.  
"Watch out!" said Van, Ayame turned round and laughed.

"Now why would I be afraid of one of my own men?" Kat felt a tug on her arm and turned round and saw Dilandau beckoning from the shadows with his finger to his lips. She took several small steps sideways unnoticed by Ayame and was soon in the relative safety of the shadows.

"We need to leave now!" Dilandau whispered

"But we can't just leave them! Hitomi is my friend"

"Look that woman is bad news, that guy killed – that's his boss. She just uses him as a front because the men wouldn't listen to a woman who was in charge"  
"BUT we can't leave them, you fight sodding land dragons and armies and destroy cities but your running away from one woman and a Guymeulf." Dilandau thought for a time, and when she put it that way Ayame was a lot less threatening.

"OK we're going to need a…" Dilandau didn't finish because a large explosion filled the bay. They both looked out from the shadows and saw a long haired man stepping out from a Guymeulf that had obliterated Ayame's.

"Millerna" yelled Dryden as he rushed towards her, oblivious to everything around him.

Ayame stabbed Dryden in the back with a small knife she had hidden within the folds of her dress and he fell to the floor gasping, still trying to reach Millerna.

"NO!" screamed Millerna as she rushed over to Dryden and stared into his face, Ayame went for Millerna too with the blood stained knife, but Dilandau got to Ayame before she got to Millerna. He punched her round the head, and knocked the knife out of her hand. Then dragged her to the edge of the bay and held her over the edge.

"I was afraid of you once" he snarled "But now I realize that you are just a woman. You had Dornkirk to protect you before. But now you are nothing and you are going to die"

"NO…please…please don't kill me I'll do anything." She pleaded as she gazed into Dilandau's eyes. He dropped her.


	17. Together

Chapter 17

Together

"Dryden" gasped Millerna, tears ran down her face as she looked upon his steadily fading body. "Please…please don't leave me." He had to use all his strength but he raised his arm to stroke her face as his breath came in short gasps.

"I'll always love you." Dryden's arm slowly sank to the floor as the life steadily ebbed out of his body as his blood spilled over the floor, mingling with the blood of the dead soldiers who had already departed this plane of existence.

"Dryden…Dryden!" sobbed Millerna as his eyes closed for the final time "Please don't go…I love you."

Hitomi buried her face in Vans chest as tears fell down her face, Allen placed his hand on Chid's shoulder and father and son supported each other as they watched Millerna weeping uncontrollably over the body of her dead husband. Kat had seen soldiers gutted and decapitated all around her, but nothing compared to this, the grief and loss seemed to linger in the air as she went to Dilandau to try and block it out.

They stayed like that for what felt like an eternity until the flying fortress shook violently, sending everyone sprawling to the floor. A thought suddenly occurred to Dilandau

"Is anyone actually flying this thing?" he yelled as the fortress shook again. The effect of those words were instantaneous, every man rushed to a Guymeluf.

Allen picked up Chid and Dryden's body, as Van picked up Hitomi and Millerna and Dilandau got Kat, the three Guymeluf's jumped from the fortress. Escaflowne transforming into a dragon while the other two simply flew away from the fortress as it crashed into the start of a mountain range that led to the Misty Valley.

They flew back to the valley, were the crew where making repairs to the airship in a bid to fly it back to Austauria without it falling to pieces. Dilandau landed a little further away than Escaflowne and Allen knowing he had no allies for miles. He lowered Kat to the ground then climbed out of the Guymeluf and stood by Kat as they watched the hubbub that surrounded the death of Dryden. Kat sank to the floor as she watched; apparently seeing so much death in one day was emotionally and physically exhausting.

Dilandau crouched down next to her,

"Are you ok?" he asked

"Yeah…just tired…did you really destroy the whole of Van's city when you were fifteen?" Kat replied

"Yeah, I was a bit different back then" Dilandau said as he sat down and began to tell her some of his past.

Millerna wouldn't leave Dryden's side as his body was carried into the airship by part of the somber crew. Allen too Chid to get something to eat and get washed as Hitomi and Van just sat together watching the goings on around them.

"So what now?" asked Hitomi

"We go back to Fanelia" Van replied

"Then?"

"I don't know…" Allen suddenly appeared

"What are we going to do about him" he said motioning towards Dilandau, Van took a deep breath.

"I couldn't possibly begin to tell you, I mean on the one hand he's a maniac or was one, but on the other he saved some lives today" Allen turned and watched the two figures in the distance talking.

"What about Kat?" asked Hitomi looking from Van to Allen then back again?

"I wish I could tell you" said Van "But I think we should get back to Austauria as soon as possible. The people need to be told of Dryden's death and Millerna is now in charge."

Hitomi got up and began to walk towards Dilandau and Kat.

"Where are you going?" asked Van and Allen at the same time.

"Gonna go have a girl talk" she replied. Van got up to follow her. "Girl talk means no boys allowed, go do king stuff." She continued with a smile.

Kat watched Hitomi approach and Dilandau slowly stopped talking as she approached.

"Hey" said Kat quietly

"Hi, can I talk to you"

"Sure…..oh ok, I'll be back in a minute" Kat said to Dilandau and go to her feet, walked with Hitomi to some rocks out of anyone's hearing distance and both girls sat down.

"It's about Dilandau isn't it?"

"A bit and some other stuff" Hitomi said.

"We're going back to a place called Austauria when the airship is finished, and Dilandau isn't going to be exactly welcome, they would probably arrest him or something. You know for war crimes or something"

"But he saved…..it wouldn't matter would it?" said Kat dejectedly, Hitomi shook her head. Both were quiet for a time before Kat said

"Will I ever see earth again?" Hitomi turned and looked straight at her.

"You could go back"

"Just me?"

"Kat, I left once before and I think it was the biggest mistake of my life"

"So if I went back you wouldn't be coming with me"

"I think so" Kat thought for a time and her eyes suddenly lit up.

"What if I went back and took…." She looked over at Dilandau

"Kat? Do you really think that's a good idea? I mean he might go around killing people and he would get arrested or shot or something else." Kat nodded

"It was just a thought; I mean I have to decide between never seeing my family or friends again and not having to explain where you disappeared to or staying here, with you and him." Kat and Hitomi looked up as they saw Allen and Van approaching Dilandau. He stood up to meet them and they talked for a time before Dilandau followed them to a defeated enemy Guymeluf near the ship and start poking at some of the machinery inside it.

"I don't know what it is" said Dilandau as he looked at the glowing cube inside the fallen Mecha. "I mean it's a new design, similar to the ones that Zaibach used to use but it's a lot more advanced. It uses two dragon energists by the looks of things but I dunno what this does." Van and Allen nodded; one of the crew had been taking the some of the Guymelufs apart looking for spare parts to use in the airship, when he had found a glowing cube. Van and Allen had come to take a look and failing to figure out what it did, went to get Dilandau as he would be familiar with the old Zaibach Guymeluf designs.

"Any idea what it might be?" asked Allen, Dilandau took an armor plate off in a bid to get a better look at it, he followed some of the wires around and his eyes narrowed. He looked up at the sky as if he was searching for something.

"I think you may have a problem"

"Why?" asked Allen, Dilandau pointed into the distance and they saw several black dots.

"Those are flying fortress's about 5 of them and this…my guess is it's a transmission device of something." Dilandau began walking towards Kat,

"My guess you have about 30 minutes before they get here, so I would leave or hide because there is no way that you can defeat all of them, even with Escaflowne." Dilandau reached Kat and helped her to her feet.

"We're leaving"

"What! Why?"

"Because there are more flying fortress's coming and they aren't friendly."

"But what about everyone else?"

"Don't make me drag you."

"I'd like to see you try" retorted Kat with a stubborn look on her face.

"Look if we don't leave now, we're going to die!" At that moment Van came running over.

"Hitomi, we're leaving the airship will hopefully get us far enough away from the valley."

"Come on then lets go" said Dilandau impatiently. Kat and Hitomi looked at each other and hugged before going their separate ways. Hitomi into the airship and Kat was scooped up by Dilandau in the Guymeluf.


	18. Memories

Chapter 18

Memories

Folkon stared out the window, hands clasped behind his back in quiet contemplation. He kept running over the events that Hitomi and Van had told him in his head, trying to make sense of them. Though no matter how strange they seemed, they made sense. Though what he could still not recall was how he had gotten to earth after dieing here if he had died at all. There was nothing but a blank space in his memories, until he saw that girl…Kat sitting on the bench, and he'd known that there was something different about her.

"Lord Fanel?" said a voice behind him; he turned round and found Celena and Princess Eries.

"Yes my ladies?" Eries nodded at Celena,

"How long do you think they will be until the come back" Celena asked, Folkon stayed silent for a time, he took a deep breath and said quietly

"I could not begin to tell you, for if I tried it would be a lie or a guess." Celena nodded and left to sit at the table and stare at the wall, waiting for her brother to return. Folkon turned to once again look out of the window and Eries stepped forward and stood by his side.

"Do you think they are ok?" she said quietly

"My real memories of this place are few and far between, I know only what Van and Hitomi have told me of my past. So if you are asking for an educated answer I would say yes, however I feel time says otherwise for they have been gone for a long time." Eries sighed. She missed Allen more than she would let herself believe, more than she would allow him to believe, yet every time she looked at Celena she felt a pang in her heart as despite her feminine features a resemblance to Allen could still be seen.

Folkon suddenly saw a dark shape flying towards the window, it was getting larger by the second. Folkon bolted away from the window, pushing Eries out the way and placing himself in front Celena and Eries as it…she crashed through the glass in a whirl of feathers. Folkon felt his eyes grow wide and his jaw drop as she stood up, her long black hair standing out in sharp contrast to the pure white wings that could only belong to an angel that sprouted from her shoulders. Dark eyes gazed back into his then at Celena and she said simply

"I bear no ill will to either of these women please may I speak with you Lord Folkon"

He nodded, unable to tear his eyes away from her as she stood there among the shards of broken glass in the morning sunlight, then he noticed, her wings they weren't pure white. The tips of the feathers were slightly grey.

The airship took off with a splutter and slowly began to move, Hitomi looked out the window and saw the fortress's they were a lot clearer now and getting bigger by the minute. They weren't going to be able to out run them and they all knew it. There was a knock on the door and a member of the crew came in.

"King Fanel requests your presence in the Guymeluf bay my lady" he said

"OK I'm coming" Hitomi replied. When she got there she found Allen, Chid, Millerna, Dryden who had been covered by a blanket and some armed soldiers.

""Hitomi we're getting out of here, the Guymeluf's can go faster than the airship. The crew have agreed to try and hold them off while we escape."

"But…." _They will all be killed_ thought Hitomi, she looked around and saw that everyone knew this. They all boarded Guymeluf's with heavy hearts and took off leaving the crew to their fate, Escaflowne leading them towards the forest where they might shelter. Hitomi looked back as the flying fortresses descended upon the airship as she held on tightly around Van's waist as he piloted Escaflowne and landed in a deep forest surrounded on most sides by sheer cliff faces that was way to small for a fortress to get too near to the ground.

"We should stay hidden for awhile" said Van "We're all tired and need to rest, take it in turns for sentry duty while the others sleep" he said suppressing a yawn. They nodded one of the soldiers that had accompanied them took first watch as everyone else found the softest patch of grass they could. Hitomi was curled up next to Van who had his arm around her, Millerna was leaning on Allen as was Chid, while the small group of soldiers that had a accompanied them formed a ragged perimeter around the group.

Dilandau had landed at the opposite end of the forest, and had not noticed the arrival of Escaflowne and the other Guymelufs. Kat had practically fallen asleep as soon as she had been placed the ground. Dilandau and took off his cloak and placed it over the sleeping girl as he sat down beside her, Kat muttered slightly in her sleep and shuffled closer to Dilandau. He smiled to himself and gradually dozed off into a light sleep, hand clutched around his sword.

Both groups were awakened by the loud crash that echoed round the forest, the looked up and saw one of the fortress's trying to force its way in, as wave after wave of Guymeluf descended into the forest, blocking any hope of escape without being seen.

Kat rubbed her eyes sleepily as she struggled to wake up in a hurry as Dilandau pulled her to her feet.

"Wha…what's going on" she mumbled.

"We've been found, or someone has" he replied pulling her to the Guymeulf. Kat suddenly saw something glistening on the floor and resisted Dilandau.

"What now!" he growled

"I think I see something" she replied running to the spot where she had seen it. Dilandau watched, glancing at the sky occasionally when an exceptionally loud crash sounded. Then he saw it as she pulled something out of a shrub. It was glowing pink.

"What is it?" he asked, his answer came in the form or Kat running towards him and jumping on him as though she would never let go.

"Have you lost it completely" he muttered when a beam of light from the sky touched down and sent them hurtling through the air, then everything went black.

Hitomi saw the light and called out to the others,

"Van, someone has another pendant" she looked down and saw a soft glow and took out her pendant from beneath her top.

"VAN!" she yelled, it was too late the light came down again and she was being lifted.

Van saw her and acted as though on impulse, his wings burst from his shoulders ripping holes in his top, he took off in a storm of feathers and soared towards Hitomi grabbing her hand, just as she was catapulted to an unknown destination pulling Van with her.

Allen, Chid, Millerna and the soldiers just stood there gawping at the place that Van and Hitomi had been.

"We should go find somewhere to hide" said Allen who was getting increasing agitated as the enemy began to close in around them.

"What about Escaflowne" asked Chid

"We'll have to leave it, only the King of Fanelia can pilot it…come on" Allen led them deeper into the forest where massive trees grew close together and the Guymelufs would have difficulty moving.


	19. Jealousy

Chapter 19

Jealousy

Kat slowly opened her eyes and everything slowly slid back into focus. She looked around and saw Hitomi and Van…Van with wings sprawled unconscious a little way off Dilandau was laying next to her. She got to her feet and took in her surroundings, it looked like a cave. She slowly walked to the cave entrance her legs seemed unwilling to co-operate so she held the wall for support. The cave opened out onto a small ledge then a drop of over one hundred feet. Kat went back inside the cave quickly and knelt down by Dilandau and tried to wake him. She tried shaking him, poking him, yelling and finally slapping him round the face somewhat harder than she had intended before trying to rouse Hitomi who came round almost immediately.

"Wha…What happened?"

"Pendant, bright light, blackness, here." Said Kat, whose throat was sore from screaming at Dilandau, Hitomi looked around and saw Van and immediately tried to wake him up.

"Er….Hitomi?" Kat said

"Yes"

"Van has wings"

"Yes"

"Why?"

"Because he's partly Draconian" Kat opened her mouth to ask what exactly a Draconian was when Dilandau woke up, looked around and rubbed his cheek which was now red for Kat's slap.

"Where are we….what happened…why does my face hurt?"

"I don't know and there was a big pillar of light thing that brought us here and I slapped you"

"YOU WHAT!" he yelled, waking Van up, Kat shrugged.

"You wouldn't wake up, I tried yelling and poking" she was interrupted by a groan from Van as his wings seemed to disappear back into his shoulders in a burst of feathers. Dilandau and Van made eye contact with each other and the old hatred returned, Hitomi and Kat both rolled their eyes.

"Where are we" asked Van

"I don't know" said Hitomi "Are you ok"

"Yeah I'm fine, what's HE doing here" Kat had to literally grab hold of Dilandau to prevent him lunging at Van.

"Cool it" Kat said

"Cool what?"

"It means calm down! We need to figure out why we are here and where here is?"

"Van are we Fanelia?" asked Hitomi, Van got to his feet and went to look out of the mouth of the cave.

"I don't think so, but I don't recognize any of it. So we could be anywhere on Gaea"

"Well I could have told you that" said Dilandau

"I don't see you helping our situation" retorted Van. Dilandau got to his feet and took a step closer to Van who tensed up.

"We are clearly far to the North of Fanelia, this ridge and valley is probably at the northern most part."

"How the hell do you know that?" spat Van

"There is snow over there, which means we are really far north or south and there are no mountain range's this big in the south." He replied with a smirk on his face, Van was furious; he clenched his fists trying to disperse some of his rage.

"So how do we get back to where ever we were?" asked Kat as Dilandau leant against the wall of the cave with a smug look on his face.

"We don't go anywhere till morning" said Van "The sun is going to set soon and it would be suicide for you to climb down now"

"What do you mean you" growled Diladau

"I can carry Hitomi down then come back for Kat but you're too heavy, come to think of it let's go now" Dilandau drew his sword as did Van. As Kat sidled over to Hitomi,

"You don't mind staying here for one night do you?" she said pleadingly Hitomi smiled

"That much huh?"

"Yeah, I think" Kat replied.

"Van I think we should stay here tonight, there is no point going down now we'll just have to make camp again when we get to the bottom and we're relatively safe up here" Hitomi said, Van nodded but didn't lower his sword as he and Dilandau both stood stock still each unwilling to make the first move.

Kat and Hitomi soon got tired of watching the human statues and retreated to the back of the cave and started to talk in low tones so neither Dilandau or Van could hear them clearly.

"But why?" asked Hitomi

"I dunno, we kinda bumped into each other in the forest after I ran away from that wolf man and he was like a lost puppy, then it was like he suddenly developed an attitude after he got that sword and started bossing me about, then when we got on that flying fortress he saved me from the perverted Captain and I felt all safe, but what about Van and those wings."

"He's half Draconian – Draconian's have wings they were like the ancient civilization that used to live here on Gaea."

Dilandau and Van though still stood stock still; swords drawn had most of their attention diverted onto trying to hear what the girls were saying though even then they could only catch snippets of the conversation and occasional giggles.

It must have been past midnight when Hitomi and Kat fell silent, though Van and Dilandu were both still stood there, both of them were tired and their arms aching.

"Want to continue this in the morning" said Van tentatively, Dilandau nodded and they both slowly lowered their swords and staying as far away from each other as they could walked to the back of the cave.

"OW!" said Kat

"What!"

"You stood on me"

"Well move then"

"Night Hitomi"

"Night Kat"

"Night Dil"

"WHAT!"

"….andau"

"Night Van"

"Night Hitomi"

Hitomi was the first to wake in the morning as the sun rose over the ridge casting morning sunlight into the cage, she was stiff from sleeping on the bare rock floor of the cave, but pleasantly warm as Van had spouted his wings overnight and was covering her with one of them as he lay on his front head in is arms. Hitomi cast a look at Kat who had procured Dilandau's cape and was curled up next to him.

'_It could be worse' _she told herself and moved closer to Van and drifted back to sleep.


	20. Captured

Chapter 20

Captured

Allen watched what he hoped were the last of the enemy Guymeluf take off and the fortress float away. He wanted to get back Austauria and slowly lead King Chid and Millierna back to Escaflowne and the other Guymeulf's. They hadn't been found by some miracle. He was about to climb into it when about 30 enemy soldiers stormed out from behind the trees.

"Halt" they yelled in unison as Millerna and Chid were held at sword point.

"Come down from the Guymeluf Allen Shazar or you will be responsible for the deaths of these two" Allen had no choice but to comply and climbed down; their hands were bound tightly behind their backs before being taken up to the flying fortress by Guymeluf's.

Once on the fortress they were marched to the control room and forced to their knees. A large grey haired man was staring out the large window at the forest below.

"Who are you and why are we captive" snarled Allen

"SILENCE! You care obviously not aware of the precarious circumstances you have landed yourself in Allen Shazar"

"Then please enlighten me"

"Not until you have given me the piece of information I require…where is the former Zaibach Dragonslayer known as Dilandau Albatou?"

"I have no clue, and I don't care" retorted Allen. The large man swept over and grabbed Allens collar. Millerna let out a small shriek.

"SILENCE WOMAN!"

"That is no way to talk to a lady" said Allen calmly before using all his strength and slamming into the man knocking him off his feet, as Allen scrambled to his, he was about to attack then he saw a sword at Chid's throat and it felt like his stomach had dropped away.

"No" he muttered almost silently, as the grey haired man got to his feet and swung at the back of Allen's head knocking him to the floor. He signaled to the waiting guards and the hauled him once again to his knees.

"I know why you fear for the boy Allen Shazar, I know more about you that you could possibly imagine, so DO NOT test my patience or I will tell him the truth denied to him for so long. Now tell me, where is Dilandau Albatou."

"I don't know"

"How can you not know he was with you and the others"

"He, King Fanel and two girls were taken up into the heavens by columns of bright light as the Guymeulf attack on the forest was launched, I do not know where they went." The grey haired man was silent for a time before turning away.

"Yes…yes…my men did report such phenomenon…take them to the brig, and I want search parties sent out, FIND me Dilandau!"

Hitomi woke again when Van shifted next to her, she slowly opened her eyes and saw Dilandau and Kat struggling to untangle themselves, as the cloak that Kat had been wrapped up in overnight was still attached to Dilandau's amour and there seemed to be no end to the material.

"Will you hold still!" said Kat sternly

"Why don't you hold still?"

Hitomi smiled and sat up rubbing her eyes as Van flexed his wings in the sunlight.

"Are we going then" he said as Kat and Dilandau finally got free from each other. They nodded and Dilandau waited until Van had leapt of the edge clutching Hitomi before he started climbing down. Kat stayed at the top worried about Dilandau and apprehensive about flying with Van. She soon saw him coming back up for her and braced herself. He landed effortlessly on the ledge and he went behind her and gently took her in his arms.

"Ready?" he asked

"As I'll ever be" Kat replied as he jumped off the edge, Van dropped a few feet before opening his wings and soaring forward, Kat snatched a breath as they descended steadily. Dilandau watched as they went past and felt him self go green with envy as Van smirked at him and did a barrel roll causing Kat to shriek with delight. Dilandau continued to make his way down as fast as he could as Van and Kat were already almost at the bottom.

Dilandau was over half way down when he heard the noise of an engine and turned round and saw what looked like an extremely modified Zaibach Guymeulf. It went straight for him and snatched him off the side of the cliff. Down at the bottom Van had dragged Hitomi and Kat under the cover of some bushes away so they would not be seen, however when Dilandau was grabbed off the cliff he couldn't keep hold of Kat who ran out into the clearing at the bottom of the cliff. Unfortunately the Guymeluf's saw her and one swooped down and picked her up. Van held onto Hitomi praying that the Guymeluf hadn't seen where she had run from, because against two Guymeluf's he didn't stand a chance. Eventually they left carrying Dilandau and Kat away.


	21. Tell me more…

Chapter 21

Tell me more…

"Van what are we going to do now?" said Hitomi hopelessly, Van stared into the air at the tiny specks in the distance that were steadily getting smaller. He suddenly noticed that there were also two specks that were getting bigger, he and Hitomi hurriedly crawled into their hiding place again, before a familiar voice called out their names.

"Van...Hitomi?" Van looked through the branches and saw Folkon.

"We're here" he said and climbed out, he saw Folkon then drew his sword immediately when he saw another unfamiliar person with him, a dark haired woman and she had wings.

"Folkon, how did you find us? And who is she?"

"My name is of little consequence. Where is Dilandau?"

"He was taken by some Guymeulf's as was Kat" interrupted Hitomi

"Then we are too late, Come we must find him" she said and took off in a whirl of feathers. Van stayed firmly on the ground.

"What the hell is going on?"

"Come Van and we will discuss it as we fly for time is running short." Folkon said tonelessly and took off. Both Draconians circled above them as Van took off then swooped back down to pick up Hitomi. She was getting used to this kind of traveling.

Kat was dropped onto the floor of another huge Guymeluf bay, still stiff from sleeping on the floor of the cave she slowly lifted her head and looked around. A large set of feet was standing directly in front of her.

"What did you bring a spare for? I only wanted Dilandau"

"I thought….I thought"

"Silence….just get rid of her" Kat scrambled to her feet and looked up at the man before her. He was a good 6"7ft tall, she had opened her mouth to protest but words failed her.

"Take her away" Kat looked around frantically for Dilandau before two soldiers grabbed her and began pulling her away.

"LET ME GO!" Kat finally yelled as she found her voice and less than 10 seconds later Dilandau surged out of a crowd of soldiers and killed the two that had hold of Kat.

"How come people are always trying to get rid of me when I'm near you" Kat muttered as she stood beside Dilandau.

"Now what's all this" said the tall man "You are Dilandau Albatou leader of the Zaibach Dragonslayers I presume?"

"Ex-Zaibach Dragon Slayers" growled Dilandau and Kat detected a hint of that sounded like sorrow in his voice.

"Ah yes…I apologize, but who is she?"

"She's none of your business"

"He was going to get rid of me" said Kat quietly

"Indeed, my mistake, I thought she was merely a toy brought back by the men, which is behavior I frown upon greatly. Dilandau would you care to accompany me to my study, it is much more comfortable in there and we have much to talk about."

"We do?"

"Indeed, please follow me, I am Isao Li commander of this flying fortress, forgive me for not introducing myself sooner." He turned on his heel and began to walk to the end of the bay. Dilandau lowered his sword slightly and began to follow with Kat in tow. When they reached the study, they found 12 soldiers stationed at the door. Isao turned to Dilandau

"I was wondering if we may have a private word" he said looking at Kat "I imagine you may be hungry or thirsty, the flight was rather long"

"You mean the flight we didn't have much choice in since we were KIDNAPPED" growled Kat.

"Unfortunately my men have little finesse in such matters." Dilandau thought for a moment.

"You can either go and get some food, or wait outside the door"

"But you don't even know who this guy is or what he wants!" replied Kat

"That is what I am hoping to find out." Kat gave Dilandau a glare and went and sat on the floor at the other side of the corridor opposite the door and folded her arms as Dilandau and Isao entered the room, closed the door and sat down. The room was large and a round oak table stood in the middle with chairs place around it. Shelves full of Books lined the walls between the lamps and a large desk stood underneath a window covered in bits of paper.

"Please sit down" said Isao, Dilandau looked him up and down before sitting on one of the chairs, as Isao sat in the chair in front of the desk.

"Ok what did you bring me here for" Said Dilandau suddenly

"I brought you here because you are the expert in a field that I am extremely interested in"

"And what might that be?"

"I want to create a new team of Dragon slayers" Dilandau's eyes widened "The Zaibach Dragon slayers were some of the most feared warriors of this century, though I had believed they were all killed, until I heard rumors that you had survived and I knew that if I could convince you to lead my new team of Dragon Slayers then Van Fanel wouldn't have a chance even with that Ispanol Guymeluf."

"Escaflowne…" muttered Dilandau

"So Dilandau Albatou, what do you say? Would you like to head my team of Dragon Slayers?" Dilandau felt something inside him light up, he suddenly longed for the thrill of a battle. Isao saw something light up in Dilandau's eyes before saying

"However there is one problem"

"Whats that?"

"Her"

"What about her"

"The Dilandau Albatou I heard legends of cared for no one, and therefore he had no weaknesses"

"What do you mean weaknesses?"

"Should one of your enemies get hold of her, your attachment to her may lead you into making rash decisions."

"I don't have an attachment to her…"

"So I can get rid of her then?"

"NO" said Dilandau suddenly, then he fell quiet and looked at the floor.

"I see"

"I need to think about this" said Dilandau as he got to his feet. Isao nodded.

"First let me introduce you to your Dragon slayers should you decided to take me up on my offer." He got up and opened the door and saw Kat get to her feet, he ignored her completely and allowed the soldiers that had been standing by the door to enter then shut the door in her face. Kat stared at the door and sighed, willing with all her soul for Isao to spontaneously combust, though by the lack of screaming from the room she figured it hadn't worked.

Dilandau stared at the men before him, the new Dragon slayers. Old memories flooded back of the of his lost Dragon Slayers and what he wanted to give to get them back and here, here were a new, bigger, stronger faster team and the only thing standing in the way was Kat. Did she make him weak? Was she what had been holding him back?

"Dismissed" Dilandau said without thinking, the men bowed and in unison said "Yes Lord Dilandau" and marched out the door. Dilandau stared after them.

"I will let you think about it, and in the mean time I will arrange somewhere for you and her to stay and get you some food." Dilandau nodded and walked out the room, Kat was waiting.

"Well…why are we here?" she said

"He needed some information on Zaibach"

"So he kidnapped you"

"We can get some food and we have a place to stay for a few nights" Dilandau said so as to avoid the question, as they were escorted to the mess hall. Kat knew something was wrong, he seemed distracted some how, she also noticed how all the men seemed to jump out their…well his way as they walked down the corridors. When it was time for them to turn in Kat was shown to her room and Dilandau was about to follow when their guide spoke up.

"Sir…Lord Dilandau, your quarters are…." He trailed off.

"Oh no…not a chance, been there done that!" growled Kat. Dilandau looked at her.

"She will be joining me" he said, the guide nodded

"Yes Lord Dilandau" he escorted them both to Dilandau's quarters that were large and lavishly furnished. Kat instantly ran into the bathroom which is where she stayed for almost an hour and came out clean but dressed once again in dirty clothes and hair dripping wet.

"It's amazing how good a shower feels" her eyes narrowed, Dilandau was still sat in the same place he had been when she had jumped into the bathroom.

"Do you move at all?"

"Huh? What?"

"What's wrong with you?"

"Oh it's nothing…just thinking" Dilandau was still thinking by the time Kat was fast asleep. He sighed and turned to look at her, his thoughts in turmoil, several weeks ago he would have jumped at the chance to lead new Dragon slayers and would most likely be on his first mission already, but now things were different. He had never cared for anyone before though he had feared being alone. He covered her in the duvet and silently got up and walked into the bathroom and had a wash; it was only when the water turned grey that he realized just how dirty he was. Before long he lay down on the bed next to Kat, she shuffled up to him and before he could stop himself he had put his arm around her.

'_Am I weak now, does she make me weak?. Why is this a hard decision?'_


	22. History

Chapter 22

History

Van, Folkon and the dark haired woman had been flying for almost 2 hours when the flying fortress came into view, Van almost forgot to flap his wings, and the sheer size of it amazed him. It was much bigger than any of the Zaibach flying fortresses and there was no way they were going to get near it without being seen. He privately doubted that even with an army they would have a chance against the forces that where undoubtedly massing with the great structure.

"We need to get back to Faneila and soon" said Van, Folkon and the woman nodded, they flew round the fortress giving it a very wide berth. Hitomi knew that Van was getting tired; she could feel his muscles straining against the onset of cramp.

"Van, maybe we should land for a rest" she said quietly

"Why are you tired?" he replied

"No but you are." Van looked hard at her, his face pensive before it broke into a smile.

"I keep forgetting that you're psychic" Hitomi grinned.

"So land already." Van motioned to Folkon that he was landing and they dived steadily landing amongst some large trees.

"We're not going to get back to Fanelia tonight" he said, "we should rest and start again at dusk when we are less likely to be seen." Folkon nodded and went to sit by the base of the tree. Van however went to talk to the woman.

"What's your name and who are you?" he asked as the three of them sat down.

"My name is Emollia and I am a direct descendant of the last Draconian to leave Gaea." Van stared.

"So why are you here?"

"My duty has been passed down from generation to generation, from father to son, however my brother was killed in cold blood during a battle and I being the last member of my family alive took up my brothers duty."

"What is your duty?"

"To clear all the pendants from Gaea and the Mystic moon, is part of my brother's duty thus ensuring that the Mystic moon knows not of our existence, he was also summoned to correct the mistakes of the Zaibach sorcerers. I believe you have met Dilandau Albatou and know of his connection to Celena Shazar." Van nodded

"Yes, how could I forget?"

"Dilandau was a product of the Zaibach sorcerers experiments on Celena, they were attempting to split a persons personality into two separate people one purely evil and one of pure good. Unfortunately mistakes during the process produced people like Dilandau, a single person with two contrasting personalities inside of him. Celena and her opposite Dilandau. Dilandau was dominant as he was the eviler personality because he was the one Zaibach reinforced. Then when Zaibach fell, Celena regained control as Dilandau had lost his reinforcement. This was the way things should have remained. But a spell and ritual done by one of the former Zaibach sorcerers posing as a priest on Celena managed to split the two personalities so completely that they became separate people. Celena became the woman she would have been if a little purer, had Zaibach never acquired her."

"So Dilandau is pure evil?" interrupted Hitomi looking worried.

"It is certainly a possibility, though I assume that he also retained some of the personality he had while Celena's personality was still submissive inside him. I believe he did not like to be alone and looked for the support of his Dragon Slayers then when they fell he broke down?"

"He's been around people all the time so far hasn't he?" said Van

"Yeah he's been with Kat most of the time"

"In which case that personality has been supported, though I fear that should he loose that support the 'pure evil' in him will become dominant."

"So we can't let Dilandau and Kat split up?" asked Hitomi

"I am unsure, this type of thing has never happened before, Dilandau and Celena are somewhat special as for some reason he and Celena both survived the splitting process, as in all the other cases one or both of them have died as a result of the shock."

Hitomi began to ask another question but Folkon cut her off

"We should rest, it will take us at least another two days to get back Faneila, then we have to decide what we should do about Dilandau and the girl."

"TWO DAYS!" Hitomi gasped "But anything could happen in two days"

"I fear it will take longer than that for we will need the help of Austauria and many other allies to take on that fortress, and we still do not know what has become of Allen, Millerna and King Chid" Van said, before the four of them settled down for the night.

Allen stared at the wall of the cell he Millerna and Chid had been placed in. Millerna was asleep on one of this shoulders, Chid on the other. He wondered where they were, and how they might escape. It had been several days since their capture or so he thought, without a window the only light came from a lamp hung on the wall out side the cell. So he was unsure whether it was night or day, their food was also brought at irregular intervals and he had given most of his to Millerna and Chid. Allen sighed and closed his eyes and drifted off into an uneasy sleep.


	23. Friends

Chapter 23

Friends

Dilandau had woken early and left the room by the time Kat opened her eyes, it took her awhile to realize that he wasn't there and even less time to pull on some clothes and leave the room to look for him. Kat wondered around walking randomly down corridors and was soon totally lost. She descended some stairs and found herself in a sort of dungeon, the cells seemed empty as she walked along. Then she heard the sound of light breathing and curiosity got the better of her. She arrived at the cell and saw three figures in the darkness, Kat squinted trying to see who they were when a voice sounded out of the darkness.

"Who are you and what are you doing down here!" Kat found a sword to her throat.

"I….I was looking for D..Dilandau"

"Put that sword down Tefel" growled a new voice and one of the men that was standing in the corridor the night before appeared.

"Yes, Sir"

"I will take you to Lord Dilandau" he said and walked slightly ahead of her and waited for her to follow, Kat took one last glance at the darkened figures and followed him. Once they were back into the main part of the fortress, the man slowed and said

"I think it would be better if you didn't mention you were down there, it's a classified area and it would be bad news for you and several others if certain people knew you had been down there" Kat nodded

"Why do you call him Lord Dilandau?" she asked

"Because he is to be out General…"

"Huh ?"

"Lord Dilandau is to lead the Dragon slayers"

"I though they died" they man frowned

"Yes the first team did, they were defeated by King Van Fanel and his Ispanol Guymeluf Escaflowne, rumor has it that it sent Lord Dilandau mad with grief and he tried to take on Van alone, which is where he met his death." Kat listened intently, it seemed Dilandau had left certain tidbits of information out when he told his side of the story and she was sure that Van would tell a different version.

"Wasn't Dilandau a little young to be a General when he was fifteen?"

"Normally yes, but Dilandau wasn't normal."

"Why?"

"Didn't he tell you any of this?"

"He told me part of it but we kept getting interrupted when people started kidnapping and shooting at us"

"Oh….Dilandau was experimented on at a young age, the Zaibach scientists were trying to create the perfect 'weapon' and by the time he was fifteen he was considered ready for battle."

"So where did Celena come from?"

"Celena?" he asked before walking through the door and coming face to face with Dilandau.

"You're LATE!" he yelled "Why?"

"I was lost and he was helping me" said Kat as she stepped out from behind him. Dilandau looked at her and she couldn't quite read the expression on his face; was it annoyance or was it gladness.

Kat watched and waited for several days and soon became accustomed to this new life. It was strange being called 'miss' or 'ma'am' where ever she went. During their off hours the Dragon slayers kept her entertained when Dilandau disappeared for hours at a time. He wouldn't tell her where he went or why, but she noticed that he was becoming more and more distant during the day then at night she felt his hands run slowly up and down her body, sending a tingle of excitement and pleasure though her body even though in the back of her mind she was wondering what he really felt, did he care about her at all?.

During the day however her particular friend among the Dragon slayers was Alexis or Alex, he was the one that had helped her on that first day. Alex seemed to have appointed himself her guardian but only when Dilandau wasn't around, for when he was he guarded her like a wild animal, prowling around and snarling at those who came too close. Though occasionally she would want to be alone and slip away from Dilandau or the Slayers, in which case she visited the Guymeluf bay, for some reason being around these giant metal men calmed her and she began to spend hours there, sitting alone while Dilandau was training his Slayers or off on one of his disappearing acts. She sighed and looked out of the bay doors at the world beneath her then up at the Earth that provided a constant vigil from the heavens. She climbed into the cupped hand of Dilandau's Guymeluf and stared longingly at the Earth, she wondered if she was being missed or of they had even noticed she was gone. What would her family do when they found out?


	24. Couples

Chapter 24

Couples

Hitomi and Van had finally reached Faneila without incident, messengers had been sent to all of Faneila's allies asking for military help, everyone was tense and jumpy and Hitomi found herself seeking solitude before long. It was almost a week since Kat and Dilandau had been taken and she wondered what was happening to them, if anything was happening to them. For Van had reassured her that if they had wanted to kill Dilandau they would have simply shot him while he was on the cliff and though she knew he hated to admit it Kat was probably safest with Dilandau for the time being. She heard the rustle of feathers behind her as she sat on the roof watching the moon rise. Hitomi turned and found Folkon behind her.

"I hope I am not intruding" he said as she gazed up at his pensive face.

"No….I'm just thinking"

"About Kat…and Dildandau?"

"Yes"

"I am intrigued, from what Van has told me of Dilandau he is a maniac only capable of killing and misery. Yet Kat seems to have formed a bond with him."

"I think Kat has found something in Dilandau that the rest of us have failed to notice." Hitomi said quietly

"Van is looking for you" said Folkon

"Oh ok" she replied not hurrying to get up. She slithered off the roof as Folkon watched from the ground after he had glided from the roof and was secretly ready to catch her if she fell. She reached the balcony with ease and went into the castle as Folkon faded into the darkness. He hadn't told any of the others but he was steadily regaining his memory. It came in flashes of images that took a lot of concentration for him to sort; they were like a jigsaw that was slowly coming together piece by piece. Then there were the dreams, dreams of a girl that looked a bit like Emollia, she seemed so strange so distant but close enough that he could almost reach out and touch had she been made from more than wisps of mist in the morning air.

Hitomi had found Van in his study poring over some documents behind a small desk, he looked exhausted. She silently walked up behind him and placed her arms round his neck, the effect was instantaneous he grabbed her arm and pulled her round to face him hand on his sword, before he realized who he had caught.

"Oh Hitomi, I'm sorry, I didn't mean, I'm just…" he trailed off and began looking at the documents again.

"Van?"

"What?"

"Van!" she said and took the paper from his hand and placed it down on the desk.

"Hitomi what are you doing?"

"Folkon said that you were looking for me"

"I never…"

"Whether he did or he didn't I'm here now and you are tired and are going to go to bed" Hitomi said smiling realizing what Folkon had done, he knew that not too many people would be able to distract Van from his work. She gave him a small kiss on his cheek and took his hand and proceeded to try and pull him up from his chair. Van gave in and stood up and allowed himself to be pulled to his bedroom by Hitomi. She turned to give him a goodnight kiss but he lifted her up and pulled her into the room amidst stifled giggles of laughter from her.

"You need to stay and check I don't start working again" he said as he placed her on the bed and she looked up at him as he moved closer and their lips met as he gently pushed her until she was lying down.

"Oh Van" Hitomi whispered as his lips began to travel down her neck and the both struggled to the center of the bed and two became one.

Kat had retired to Dilandau's room, he had been gone all day and she was planning on ignoring him completely when he got back, if he came back.

She heard the door open and the familiar clink of his uniform boots on the floor, Kat looked up slightly to check it was Dilandau, she hadn't totally gotten over her experience with Kamlyn yet. He saw her and she glared at him before lying back down and facing the opposite wall. Dilandau growled and took off his uniform. He pulled on the trousers he slept in and lay down on the bed next to Kat.

"Hi?" he said quietly, Kat ignored him. Dilandau sat up slightly and took a deep breath.

"I know I was gone all day…and…"

"Yeah well I noticed that too" Kat retorted.

"Its just Isao needed me to…"

"Yeah well tell him to shove a Guymeluf up where the sun don't shine" Dilandau felt the familiar wave of fury sweep over him.

"What did you say" he said through clenched teeth." Kat turned over

"You heard me! I'm sick and tired of being left alone or with the Slayers; not that they are that bad. While you are off on one of your stupid little secret missions" Dilandau narrowed his eyes when Kat sat up and made to get off the bed. He grabbed her arm to stop her moving.

"Let go" Kat said quietly in a tone he had never heard before and he loosened his grip slightly. Kat climbed off the bed and muttered under her breath

"Half wish I was staying with Alex least he talks to me" Dilandau's eye's widened

"What did you say!" Kat looked up and could almost see the fury building inside him and took a step back.

"I…I said at least Alex talks to me" Kat replied with a little misgiving. Dilandau surged off the bed and grabbed her by the collar his eyes blazing.

"What else does Alex do" he snarled, Kat tried to pull away but his grip only tightened.

"Nothing, he doesn't do anything" Kat said still trying to pull away. Dilandau heaved her over to the bed and forced her to stay there all night, even the tiniest of her movements was met with a snarl, though before long tiredness got the better of her and she fell asleep.


	25. Mistakes

Chapter 25

Mistakes

Kat awoke, she saw stiff all over from being forced to stay in the same position for so long and Dilandau was still there holding her. She scowled at the frowning man and tried to sit up.

"You will stay." He growled

"Do you want me to wet the bed." She retorted and pulled herself away from him as his grip loosened slightly. She stumbled into the bathroom and almost slammed the door and locked it. Kat took a deep breath and stared into the mirror, wondering just what she had gotten herself into. Having seen so much violence and death in the past few days she refused to let herself cry over the behaviour of Dilandau last night. It wasn't like she could do anything about it at the present time, but half made up her mind to leave with Van and Hitomi if she ever saw them again. A loud bang on the door made her jump and Dilandau's voice came from behind it.

"Hurry up, you are coming with me today." Kat sighed, though her heart leapt a little, she was finally going to see what he was doing.

She was however disappointed when Dilandau lead her to the training hall where the Dragon Slayers were waiting, stood stock still all in a line. Each with their armour on, except Alex, Kat frowned trying to figure out why.

"Now, it has come to my attention that one of you has been disobedient and that is something I will NOT stand for." Dilandau growled as he walked up and down the line of Slayers. "And disobedience MUST be punished severely." He reached the end of the line where Alex was standing. "Isn't that true Alex." He said dangerously to the Slayer. Kat could see where this was going and didn't want to see it, because it was her fault Alex was getting punished, because she had let his name slip to Dilandau. She tried to leave the hall and found the door locked from the outside, her frantic attempts to open it merely made Dilandau turn and smirk at her.

"Well aren't you going to answer your commander?" he said to Alex without turning. Alex took a deep breath as if bracing himself for something

"Y..yes Lord Dilandau." And with that Dilandau punched the un-armoured man in the stomach with all the force he could muster, Alex crumpled onto the floor clutching his stomach.

"Now" Dilandau said addressing the other Slayers "I think the rest of you should help punish him, or receive the same fate." He snarled at them as the other Slayers shocked but afraid, set upon their comrade as Dilandau stepped back to watch for any that were going too easy on him. Kat was still holding the door handle, with tears streaming down her face as the yells from Alex grew louder. She could finally bear it no longer and ran to Dilandau.

"Please, tell them to stop." She asked looking up at him pleadingly; he looked down at her coldly

"Stop." He said and the rest of the Slayers backed off, leaving Alex bruised and beaten and bleeding on the floor.

"This is the punishment you will receive if I find out that ANY of you have even spoken to my property again. Should you reoffend again, the punishment will be death!" he snarled and walked to the door unlocked it and disappeared into the corridor. Kat was left alone, the rest of the Slayers avoiding eye contact. She took several steps toward Alex who was trying to sit up before stopping.

"I'm so sorry." She whispered before turning and running from the room, pushing past Dilandau who had been waiting for her. He made to grab her, but she twisted away leaving him with just her zip up top in his hands. He growled and made to go after the girl but Isao intercepted him.

"That's quite a job you did on Alex." He said stiffly looking at the top in his hands.

"I won't tolerate disobedience" Dilandau replied before following Isao to the bridge. Kat had retreated to a dark corner in the Guymeluf bay, where behind the crates she could be alone and cry until she had not tears left.


	26. Plans

Chapter 26

Plans

Merle having escaped the raid on the airship then escaping the flying fortress in her damaged Guymeluf purely by luck having hidden her flight in a dense cloud had finally reached Fanelia and landed in the courtyard. She was tired and hungry and since she had little or no news and did not want to wake Van, merely to tell him she had returned.

Mechanics set about repairing her Guymeluf immediately and she went to get some food from the kitchens, on her way back she saw two figures talking in the hall. She crept up slowly and silently, or so she thought because Folkon turned to see the small cat girl and smiled.

"Merle, how nice of you to join us." He said "Forgive my manners this is Emollia" he said indicating to the other figure. Merle looked her up and down then nodded politely, frowning slightly as she saw that the woman had wings.

"Are Van and Hitomi ok?" she asked

"They are fine." Folkon replied and continued to give her a quick rundown of all the things that had occurred since she was cut off from the group.

"So what do we do next?" she asked

"That is the subject of much discussion, as we are unsure of the motives of this new force it is hard to predict their movements. But they wanted Dilandau for a reason, and I have a hunch that he would not have kept Kat alive at least at first if he had not needed her for something. Which brings me to the question what does Dilandau feel he can achieve with Kat with him?"

"The only reason Van managed to destroy Dilandau the first time was because he had the help of Hitomi, perhaps he thinks he will be able to destroy Van if he has Kats help."

"It is a good hypothesis; though I fear by the time we figure out his intentions it will be far too late." Merle nodded deep in thought when Emollia spoke,

"I wonder, Hitomi is able to predict the future to some extent, I wonder if that is her only psychic power, Kat much share some attributes with Hitomi to be able to get here. If we could make a connection then Kat would be ideally placed to give us information on Dilandau."

"If we could, the question would then become; would Kat be willing to co-operate with us to help bring Dilandau down?" Folkon said thought fully

"Well it's the only plan we have." Said Merle "We will ask Hitomi and Van in the morning."

Kat had stayed in her hiding place until hunger got the better of her and she crept out, news of what Dilandau had done to Alexis seemed to have spread quickly and those that used to offer her a smile as she passed now looked away as though she didn't exist. Even in the mess hall no one would take the chance to sit anywhere near her. She ate slowly trying to ignore the people that were pointedly not looking at her and as the door opened she felt the tension in the room rise instantly. Kat looked around to see Dilandau striding towards her, she took a deep breath and got her feet shivering slightly in the cold air of the hall. To her surprise he was still holding her top and gave it to her to put on which she did gladly. He put his hand on her shoulder and with the lightest of touches steered her from the mess hall and through the corridors to the bridge. Kat didn't have the mental strength to resist any more. The old Kat would have resisted, the old Kat would have done something, but she found herself almost roughly pushed into a seat on the bridge as Dilandau carried on to stand next to Isao. She pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them staring into the air at nothing in particular.

Isao turned to look at the girl and nodded to Dilandau, he had agreed that if Dilandau could show he could control the outspoken girl he had met before he could keep her around and still head the Dragon Slayers. He was actually quite surprised that he had managed the task so well, the beating of Alexis was a particularly nice touch, ensuring that no other man on the ship would dare to even talk to the girl. Isao was also slightly worried about that, as he was not afraid to hurt his own men when he had this down-trodden girl to care about. This new Dilandau was ruthless and would stop at nothing to protect his property as he had taken to referring to Kat by.


	27. New Revelations

Chapter 27

Revelations

Van and Hitomi had been told of the plan to try and contact Kat via a psychic link and though Hitomi was all for it, she doubted if she would be able to manage it. Tarot cards were one thing, but communicating with another person directly was another matter entirely. But she set about her task with earnest, taking lessons from Emollia who with her Draconnian blood was able to manage the feat to some degree, but since she had never met Kat was unable to contact her.

It was a breakthrough when Hitomi finally managed to contact Van who was in the other room as a practice, the link was tenuous at best and she could only hold it for a short while. Contacting Kat across an unknown distance and not knowing what Kats reaction to a voice in her head would be when and if she did manage it. But while Van and Merle continued in their discussions with the other nations at the prospect of once again going to war Hitomi slowly honed her skill.

Allen, Chid and Millerna had been kept confined to their cell, being fed and watered was all well enough but they were still captives, Allen had taken to pacing the 5x5 cell whilst Millerna told either sat in silence or told stories to Chid. Allen wondered briefly how long they were going to be kept here and whether or not whoever had captured them would finally lose patience with their captives and kill them. Allen kept his thoughts to himself however, it was only when he heard the sound of boots and Dilandau's voice talking to the guard did he look out the window, a silent snarl on his lips. For there he was, and that girl from the Mystic moon was with him, hanging back slightly from Dilandau, looking dazed and lost. He finally managed to make eye contact with the girl; she cocked her head slightly and frowned as if she was trying to remember something from long ago. Whatever thought it was however was cut short by Dilandau who had turned to see Kat staring at Allen. With a smirk on his face he reached round and shut the peephole door on Allen so the cell went dark, Allen kicked the metal door in frustration.

Kat heard the bang and looked up at Dilandau who was scowling at her, their eyes connected for a second before she looked to the floor, Dilandau nodded in satisfaction and carried on to perform his other duties with Kat in tow. She now followed him everywhere, for due to the fear of Dilandau's retribution she was no longer welcome anywhere else on the fortress. There were times however when she disappeared from his side sometimes for hours at a time, and try as he might he could not find where she went or what she did when she was there. This frustrated him no end until one of the mechanics in the Guymeluf bay bucked up the courage to tell him that she merely sat staring at the sky in the bay. So the next time she disappeared he went to the bay to find her, he stood in the doorway watching her watching the sky. A faraway look on her face, every so often sighing, had Dilandau known what she was thinking he might have pushed her off to fall to her death. Luckily for Kat he didn't, for slowly but surely Kat's mind was beginning to rebel against Dilandau's suppression and with each passing day she was regaining some of her old fiery character.

Dilandau himself had noticed what a difference he had made, he almost regretted it, the Kat he had met was a challenge to be around. It was a challenge he could not win with a sword or a Guymeluf and though he felt he had won, he missed the fight immensely.

Kat got her feet and brushed herself off and started walking towards the door, jumping when she saw Dilandau standing there. She stopped in her tracks trying to a gauge his mood, for when she had last come down here he was most angry when she had finally returned to his side and locked her in the bedroom for the remainder of the day muttering something about "Now i know where you are all the time." He motioned for her to come to him, she tentatively approached.

"Do you miss your home?" he asked stiffly

"Sometimes." She answered slowly, Kat no longer knew what would set Dilandau off into a rage, or what he would do when he flew into one.

"Do you want to go back?"

"Sometimes." She replied, she did miss her family and the comforting familiarity of earth. But this world was new and exciting despite the present company. It was then that he hit her across the face, sending her sprawling onto the floor. Dilandau marched over to the girl who was now clutching her cheek in shock and picked her up by the collar.

"You are MINE, and you will stay where I can see you." He snarled. Something suddenly clicked in her brain, she didn't need this, it wasn't right. She wouldn't let herself belong to anyone. Dilandau watched in confusion as the fear and shock turned into a scowl. Kat kicked him between the legs and as he fell she grabbed the sword from his waist and held it to his neck breathing heavily.

"I am not yours. You haven't earned the right to call me yours with the way you treated me. You can beat me and you can kill me. But I will NEVER be yours until I want to be." Kat hadn't noticed the Dragon Slayers come in behind her, but Dilandau had. It was perhaps luckily still in too much pain to do anything about it.

"I liked you Dilandau for some reason and you threw it back in my face. Don't think I will make the same mistake again." She snarled at him, before turning away. Sword still in hand and marching towards the door, only to find the Slayers in the way.

"Unless you want to end up like him; Get the hell, Out of my way!" She growled and they did to her surprise, some of them recognising that despite their fighting skills she wouldn't go down quietly. Kat marched through the corridors wondering just how he was going to retaliate when he finally got up, but strangely not fearing the consequences. She would die before she let him beat her down like that again. Isao was heading towards the bay when he saw Kat in the corridor marching along like she owned the place and almost dragging of all things, Dilandau's sword. His eyes widened as she passed him, she gave him a polite nod and carried on going. This didn't bode well for Dilandau.


	28. In which things go wrong

Chapter 28

In which things go wrong.

Isao hurried towards the bay where he found the Dragon Slayers helping Dilandau up, he had a small nick on his neck from where the sword had been pressed against it which was bleeding steadily.

"What the hell happened?" he asked shocked. There were few people that could match Dilandau with a blade, let alone take his sword from him and injure him with it, how did the girl manage it?

Dilandau merely grunted and shook the Dragon Slayers off him, he wiped some of the blood from his neck, himself trying to figure out what the hell just happened. One minute she was all broken and the next it was like someone had just put a flame to pocket of gas.

"You told me she was under control." Isao said glaring at him

"She was." He said shortly

"What happened?"

"I'm not sure, she just flipped out." Isao grimaced, it was one of the reasons he didn't want women on this ship, unpredictable, distracting creatures the lot of them.

"Then that's settled it, she will have to be disposed of."

"What!?" Dilandau snapped, his hand going to his sword, which of course wasn't there.

"Disposed of Dilandau. As per our agreement, you either controlled her or she was to be disposed of. The latter obviously hasn't worked." He said. Dilandau gave him a look of pure hatred which made Isao wonder if he would survive their next encounter and then watched him walk out of the bay leaving the Dragon Slayers behind wondering what to do.

"For Gaea's sake find her before Dilandau does and bring her directly to me by any means nessecery." He said and watched them file out.

Kat had climbed into what could be called the ventilation system, a discovery she had made on her first day here. Not to mention that so many movies couldn't be wrong, it was like a highway through the fortress and was just the right size for her, a grown man would have immense difficulty getting down it. She had a plan in mind when she felt an incredibly strange sensation like a fly buzzing round her head, but much more personal. She concentrated on it and to her surprise suddenly heard Hitomi's voice

"_I think, I think I have got her...Kat...Kat can you hear me?"_

"_Hitomi? What the hell where are you? How are you in my head...i'm going mad aren't I? I must be getting..." _Kat was suddenly cut off by Hitomi's voice in her head.

"_Kat please listen to me, I don't have much time. Can you tell us what Dilandau is planning? Where is the fortress headed?"_

"_I erm...no and no. Listen this isn't the best time, i think i am gonna go and free that blond haired dude that Dilandau tried to kill." _ She had only just finished when the connection disappeared, Kat shrugged both physically and mentally, stranger things had happened and continued on down the system. When she got to a vent she saw a group of the Slayers questioning one of the engineers.  
"We are under orders of General Isao to take the girl Kat to him, do you know of her where abouts?" the engineer shook his head and the Dragon Slayers moved on. Kat frowned, something was going on here and she didn't think she wanted to be a part of it.

Hitomi came out of the trance she had managed to maintain in which she had contacted Kat. Hitomi rubbed her eyes and took a deep breath suddenly feeling very tired.

"She doesn't know anything, but said something about releasing a blond haired dude."

"Whats a dude?" Van said confused

"Erm...its a man...Van! She must mean Allen, he must be on the fortress hopefully with Chid and Millerna."

"Ok, at least we know where they are. But what can we do about it the fortress is massive we don't have enough Guymeluf's that can fly to take it on. They will never escape even if she manages to free them." Merle said dejectedly

"We have to disable it somehow..." Hitomi said slowly

"But we can't get anyone in to disable it, since it's bound to be heavily fortified to stop it being susceptible to air damage." Van pointed out.

"I feel you are over looking someone important." Folkon interrupted "You already have someone inside the fortress that probably has access to most places if she is as close to Dilandau as you made out before. "

"If it could be brought down, we might have a chance against it." Van said nodding "It's risky, especially to Kat but we have to hope she is up to it."

"And above all wants to help." Said Folkon. A messenger suddenly came running into the room

"King Fanel, they have been sited, the flying fortresses Your Majesty." Van grabbed is sword and the group went to the window and indeed there on the horizon was the dark shape of the gigantic flying fortress.

"Ready the men for battle." He called to the messenger who went scampering out.


	29. In which things get worse

Chapter 29

In which things get worse.

Kat in the meantime had finally figured out her way to the dungeon, it was only when she realised that the prisoners didn't have anywhere to go did she stop to think about her plan to free them. The Guymeluf bay wasn't that far, they might get there without being caught if they were lucky. Kat opened the hatch nearest to the cell door, looking and listening carefully for any movement. After waiting for awhile she dropped from the hatch and on hooking the key from the wall opened the cell door as quietly as she could.

The three of them shaded their eyes from the bright light and stared in disbelief at the girl.

"If you want to go, go now. The Guymeluf bay is 3 lefts, two rights then down a flight of stairs if you turn right at the end of the corridor. " she said quickly "If you get caught I won't be able to help you again." Kat continued and after a moment's thought "If you meet him...don't kill Dilandau. I still have something to say to him." She said directing it at Allen who had got to his feet. He scowled but nodded and without a word, grabbed a sword from the wall and followed by Chid and Millerna started up the corridor. They had barely made it round the corner and she had closed the cell door when at the other end of the corridor she heard a yell and saw two of the Dragon Slayers running towards her. For a second she froze then her wits caught up with her and she dived into the ventilation shaft sliding a few feet on the metal but it wasn't quite far enough and she felt a hand on her ankle and looked back to see one of them had caught her. She scrabbled frantically on the smooth metal trying to find a hand hold to grab. It was only because of her rubber soled trainers that she had any grip what so ever on the metal and as the other Slayer joined the first one to pull her out did it began to slide backwards.

"No! No! I won't go" she yelled in protest, but she was losing the battle and all three of them knew it. In an act of desperation she stabbed wildly with the sword and by some miracle it caught in something. She finally had some leverage and pulled on the sword with all her strength, but it was too little too late and another pair of hands pulled her roughly out of the system sword and all. She looked up at the three of them, feeling a pang of guilt and anger when she saw the third one was Alex.

"You have to come with us." He said simply, there was something in his face as well as the others that told her something bad was going to happen to her. They wrenched the sword from her hand and pulled her to her feet. She struggled to no avail, at the end of the day they were almost grown men and she, she was a teenage girl who had already had a trying day.

They dragged her through the first few corridors before she decided to walk unaided, head held high despite the growing lump of fear inside her. As they passed over the mess hall on a suspended walk way she saw Dilandau in the hall and was about to cry out when Alex placed his hand over her mouth she grabbed hold of the railing in desperation not knowing which was more dangerous at the current time. Dilandau or where she was being taken. Dilandau having searched for her for a long time was annoyed but it had given him some time to think about the events that had taken place before realising that very few people had ever stood up to him or had the audacity to give him a piece of their mind. Yet this girl that he thought he had broken managed it somehow. His hand went to the wound on his neck and it was only sheer chance that he looked up and saw Kat being torn away from the railing by three of his Dragon Slayers. He snarled and ran out of the mess hall hoping to intercept the group before they reached Isao.

By the time he burst into the bridge room, he found Kat held at sword point by General Isao, once again he reached for his own sword before seeing it in the other hand of Isao. Kat was in grave danger of losing her life and she was well aware of it.

"_Kat, can you hear me? We need you to do something; we need you to bring the flying fortress down somehow. There should be a control panel in the bridge, if you can destroy it we might have a chance" _said Hitomi's voice, which was much clearer this time.

"_Umm can you call back later, I'm in the bridge but I have a sword to my throat at the moment. So I'm a LITTLE busy." _Kat retorted mentally, and this time cut off the strange connection herself.

Hitomi was beside herself with worry as she came out of the trance this time and quickly relayed what Kat had said to Van and the others.  
"We need to do something!" she pleaded

"I'm not sure what we can do." Van said putting his hands on her shoulders "We have to hope that Dilandau will save her...If he's not the one pointing a sword at her throat. We can't spare any men if there is no way to bring that behemoth down from the inside." He said as Hitomi burst into tears.


	30. More Decisions

Chapter 30

Decisions

Allen Chid and Millerna had managed to make it to the bay more or less undetected. Allen had to disable several normal soldiers before he could climb into a Guymeluf and pick up his son and Millerna and take off as quietly as he could. It was fortunate for him that the bridge was preoccupied by what was about to happen to Kat and managed to escape unnoticed. The sentries were about to fire on Allen's Guymeluf when they realised who it was carrying and thus allowed it to land in the courtyard of the castle. Allen set the two down gently before climbing out, looking rather haggard. He was greeted by Celena and Eris who had run out of the castle at top speed to meet him. They were followed shortly afterward by Hitomi, Van, Folkon and another woman with wings that Allen did not recognise.

"How did you escape?" Hitomi asked breathlessly

"Kat freed us and gave us directions to the Guymeluf bay, it's a miracle that we made it without being fired on." He replied he looked on in confusion as Hitomi burst into tears again.

"Whats wrong?"

"Kat, she...she's been caught and someone had a sword to her throat." Hitomi stammered Allen frowned,

"When she freed us, she had a sword with her, and if I didn't know any better I would say it was Dilandau's I didn't see what happened after that but I heard a commotion. I needed to get Millerna and Chid to safety." He said, wishing he had stayed and got Kat to accompany him. He hadn't wanted much to do with her after he knew of her closeness to Dilandau.

Kat stayed perfectly still desperately trying to think of some way to get out of this predicament she had found herself in. Did they know that she had freed blond haired dude and the others? Was this her punishment? After Dilandau had burst through the door everyone stood quiet for several minutes. The Dragon Slayers eyeing Dilandau with a fair bit of apprehension, Isao watching them all and Dilandau's were flicking between her and Isao.

"Now it is your time to choose Lord Dilandau, the girl or the Dragon Slayers? Since we have already established that you cannot have both." Isao said loudly, Dilandau flinched visibly when given the ultimatum. He knew that the decision should be easy; it should be the Dragon Slayers of course. But some part of him was fighting for Kat to win and no matter how logically he thought about it he could not get the thought to back down. She had given him a lot of trouble and strange confusing feelings that he had never felt before, even with his beloved group of Slayers that had been killed. She had given him a connection to someone, a connection that he had never felt before.

"Dilandau, time is short. Even now we approach Fanelia and are getting ready for battle what do you say? The girl or the Slayers?"

Kat was still searching for a way out having decided she could no longer rely on Dilandau to help her if he was agonising so much over this decision. She saw a single Guymeluf float from the fortress almost out of sight.

"Is that supposed to be doing that?" she asked innocently, hoping and knowing it was blondy and the others. They made it! All of the men instantly rushed to the window except Dilandau and Isao who roared "Check on the prisoners." It was not long before the messenger came running back with a sombre look on his face.

"They are gone sir, as is a Guymeluf from the bay." He said timidly. Isao had put down Dilandau's sword and banged his fist on the nearest surface. Kat took her chance and twisted away from the blade and grabbed Dilandau's sword in the same motion and backed away from Isao, fully aware she didn't have a hope in hell of escaping as the other Dragon Slayers drew their weapons. Dilandau merely folded his arms and watched.

"I don't know what you hope to achieve little girl."

"If I have to go, I want to go fighting." She retorted, Isao snorted and struck with his sword. To his surprise as well as every man in the room she parried the blow, causing it to glance harmlessly aside. All that time watching and playing Starwars with her brother was finally paying off though she had to stop herself from making the lightsaber noise.

"Who would take the time to teach a girl how to wield a man's weapon?" Isao said

"Obi wan Kenobi" she said with a smirk, behind it though she was still afraid. These men had been trained to use weapons, and she had practiced in the back yard with half a broom handle. When Isao struck again she only just managed to stop his blade killing her but the force sent her tumbling backward and landing in a pile at Dilandau's feet. He pried the sword from her hand and held it to her throat as she lay on the floor before him. She looked into his eyes for several seconds knowing this was the end, she was going to die. Kat closed her eyes, but the blow never came and when she opened them she found Dilandau had stepped over her and was brandishing the weapon at Isao.

"You are the only thing standing between me and having both things I want." He said coolly

"So be it, you have chosen the third option Dilandau which is death. And after I have killed you, I will let the men decide what they want to do with her." He retorted. Dilandau let out what could only be described as a howl of rage and lunged at Isao. What ensued was a brief but bloody battle in which both men were injured but Isao lost when Kat tripped him up. Dilandau was like an animal, teeth bared and eyes blazing he delivered the killing blow without a second thought. Before calmly cleaning his swords then addressing the Dragon Slayers that had dared not take him on.

"I am now commander of this ship, make sure everyone knows. Ready everyone for battle. DISMISSED!" he yelled at them.


	31. The Battle

Chapter 31

The Battle

Then once they had gone he turned on Kat, pushing her against the wall her glared into her eyes, and she stared defiantly back.

"Why did you not kill me?" she asked quietly, he suddenly turned away and walked to look out the window as the fortress encroached on the outskirts of Fanelia.

"I don't know..."

"Why did you have to choose between me and the slayers?"

"Because you make me weak." He replied shortly

"Is that all I make you?" she asked "Because if it is I may as well go." Dilandau turned in an instant and made to grab her but she stepped backwards just out of his reach.

"I'm not yours Dilandau, I never was. Give me a reason to stay and I might. Otherwise I will go back to earth...after I have said goodbye to Hitomi." Dilandau growled, knowing he could force her to stay but it wouldn't do any good, because this connection he found he needed wouldn't work if she didn't want it too. He thought for several seconds trying to find the right words.

"You...you make me feel almost human again. I can see more clearly when you are here, when you are not. I feel clouded with a rage, and an evil that I can't control. I don't want to lose myself to it again." He said tentatively having difficulty finding the words.

"Ok." Kat said wondering if he was still playing mind games with her.

"Ok? That's it?" Dilandau said as if he couldn't quite believe his ears. He had finally opened up to someone and 'OK' was the answer.

"Yes." She paused for several seconds. "I need to think about things Dilandau, everything has happened so fast. I have a lot of big decisions to make now." It was then that a messenger ran in.

"The Fanelian army has been mobilized Lord Dilandau, the men await your orders and ready to deploy." Dilandau nodded and dismissed the boy.

"WHAT!?" spluttered Kat "You are gonna burn it down AGAIN!"

"The only way for me to rule Gaea is to kill King Fanel and the leaders of the other cities." He said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Kat needed to sit down at this point

"Oh my god, I have thrown my lot in with a megalomaniac." She said quietly rubbing her eyes.  
"Don't you want to be the queen of an entire planet?"

"Whoa! I think we a getting a bit ahead of ourselves here." She said hastily. Things were getting a little out of hand because at this rate Fanelia was going to be destroyed unless she brought down the fortress which if she did Dilandau would be angry and possibly be killed. But if she didn't she doubted she would be able to stop him killing Van and the others.

"Can't you just sort of not want to take over the planet? " this was met with a glare "I mean think about it you have a whole fortress to yourself"

"There are three fortresses"

"So why bother taking over anything else."

"Do you not want me to achieve anything?" Kat was at a loss for words

"I...erm...well yes but do you really have to destroy a city or more to do it and kill the man my friend loves!" she said desperately

"What do you want me to do?!" he roared banging his fists on the control panel. Kat approached him, stepping delicately over the corpse of Isao and put her hand on his arm.

"You...well...I think...Oh I don't know, it's all too much for me to think about."

"Fine. You stay here." He said and strode out of the room. Kat ran to the door

"But...where are you going?"

"To the Guymeluf bay to give the men their orders." He said without looking back. Kat took a deep breath and walked casually over to one of the panels. And after grabbing a bit of metal and pried it open and upon seeing some cogs whirring away beneath a tangle of wires she dropped the metal into the cogs which screeched to a halt and the whole building seemed to shudder to a halt. Kat pushed the panel back on and went back to her seat as smoke started to pour out from the console. Kat was on her feet in a slightly acted self induced panic by the time Dilandau and two dragon slayers ran into the room.

"I didn't touch anything, I was sitting waiting and it started smoking and I didn't know what to do." She gushed out, eyes wide, Dilandau nodded and pried the panel off himself letting out another cloud of smoke that made them all cough and splutter. Luckily the smoke was so thick that the hunk of metal that was obstructing everything couldn't be seen. It was then that the fortress lurched and dropped several yards. Dilandau grimaced and yelled

"Get some engineers up here, I want this fixed. NOW!" There was an almighty thud from inside the panel and something exploded. The fortress dropped down again, much further this time.

Van had been watching the fortress very carefully it was only when it appeared to stop and then drop down slightly in two separate instances did he realise that Kat must have done something. And did he ask Hitomi to try and contact her again.

"_Kat..are you ok? Did you do something to the fortress?"_

"_I'm fine, yes I did. Don't tell Dilandau if you ever see him. He might kill me. I don't know what's going to happen now." _Kat replied quickly. Hitomi suddenly got a flash of images of Dilandau and some of what looked like a new set of Dragon Slayers and a huge amount of men in a Guymeluf Bay. The connection was suddenly shorted out and Hitomi told everyone what she had heard and more importantly seen.  
"There was thousands of men, but Kat seems fine...and I think Dilandau has got some more Dragon Slayers." She said looking round at the dismayed faces.

"Then it's worse than we thought." Allen said quietly

"Sorry but I don't understand?" said Folkon "I know you mentioned these Dragon Slayers before but I fail to see how they are worse than the thousands of me."

"The Dragon Slayers are an elite group of soldiers, trained only to serve under Dilandau. Experts in everything from Guymeluf combat to hand to hand they are truly a force to be reckoned with." Explained Allen, scratching his head. "But we have to try."

There was suddenly a hubbub of activity as both Van and Allen readied themselves for combat, Chid and Folkon were also provided with armour as well as they were to be entrusted to care for the ladies. Folkon looked truly foreboding kitted out in full armour, towering above everyone else in the room. Allen kissed his sister and Eris goodbye and paused to give Chid a pat on the back and steadily walked out of the room hand on the hilt of his sword. Hitomi was desperate to accompany Van to point him in the right direction, but he insisted that she stayed put. Merle had disappeared and once Van and Allen had left she appeared with a small suit of light armour for Hitomi.

"I know he needs you, but don't get yourself killed or he will never forgive me." She said and waited for Hitomi to pull on the armour before together they went towards the courtyard where Escaflowne and Sharezard (sp?) were waiting.

"What are you doing out here?" Van splutted when he saw Hitomi and Merle

"We need her to point out the cloaked Guymeluf's Van. And if you won't take her on Escaflowne I will take her in mine." Van couldn't have been angrier with Merle at that point in time but when a stream of Guymelf's left the fortress some cloaked and some not he realised there wasn't time to argue and climbed into the Ispanol Guymeluf and scooped Hitomi up. And along with the rest of his force began making his way towards the enemy.


	32. Learning to fly

Chapter 32

Learning to fly.

Kat was beside herself as the men in the bay began to leave the fortress either by air ship or Guymeluf. It had dropped several times as Dilandau had begun issuing orders, the last one so violently that it knocked her and several others off their feet. Dilandau pulled her up, a little more roughly than she would have liked but didn't have time to protest about anything because once most of the men had exited the fortress Dilandau and the Dragon Slayers each climbed into their own Guymeluf's

"You're LEAVING me!" she shouted at him

"I will be back with the head of Van Fanel." He said and then he and the others jumped left the bay leaving Kat standing their open mouthed. The fortress lurched again and this time tumbled a lot further than before. From the outside smoke could be seen streaming from large parts of the building. Kat picked herself up and pushed her way to one of the ready Guymeluf's and climbed into it.

"How do I work it" she growled at one of the technicians, who refused to answer until she punched him and promised to get Dilandau to make his life a living hell. He quickly explained after that, it didn't seem that difficult until she tried to move. It was like wearing snow shoes and flexed her hands experimentally before walking slowly over to the edge and telling herself she must be crazy and jumping off. Pressing the button that engaged the flying mechanism, it was an awesome feeling that was cut short by someone firing at her. She panicked and pressed a button more at random than anything, it fired like liquid metal from hand that brought down the offending Guymeluf in a large explosion. She suddenly realised she had killed another man and felt physically sick but as more and more of the Fanelian men took to the sky she found herself having to take out another and another. What she didn't notice was the fortress that was no behind her had started to descend rapidly. Finally crashing into the ground, making the ground tremble so much that it felt like an earthquake to those on the ground. Instantly ground troops swarmed towards it, and Kat knew that the men left on the fortress were outnumbered and would soon be taken over. She flew over the ground troops, her Guymeluf being damaged in the process and getting as close to the castle as she dared for cannons on the turrets were currently taking out any mecha's that came too close. She landed and pushed open the hatch and jumped out and ran towards the gates only to be held up by a surly looking soldier who refused to let her in. Kat gritted her teeth and followed the wall around finally finding a place where a Guymelf had been shot down which breached the wall. She climbed over it and dodging some soldiers and after climbing through some windows burst into a hall and was immediately attacked by a large man with a sword. He knocked her to the floor and she recognised him instantly as she looked up.  
"Hey...you're the guy from the track." She said in wonder and then looking round at the others she saw Hitomi wasn't there.

"Where is Hitomi?" she asked

"You are the other girl from the Mystic Moon" said one of the girls, Kat nodded as Folkon helped her to her feet.

"How did you get in here?" he asked

"It's a long story," she said "Look I just really need to see Hitomi."

"She is with Van and Escaflowne" said Chid

"Bloody hell...well um it's nice to meet you all" Kat said and departed the room, heart sinking at the thought of going back out there.

Folkon shut the door and dragged some furniture against it.

"Headstrong isn't she." Eris said

"She would have to be to deal with Dilandau. That boy was a loose cannon from the start." He frowned "I...remember some things..."

Kat had reached the courtyard and been apprehended by a soldier.

"_HITOMI!" _ she shouted mentally and to her surprise she answered.

"_Kat where are you?"_

"_In the castle courtyard, one of the soldiers won't let me go."_

"_I'm coming" _was the answer and indeed after a short time a metallic white dragon hovered over them. Van ordered the soldier to release her and she climbed aboard.

"Can you see Dilandau anywhere?" she asked hanging on to the speeding creature for dear life.

"No, there has been no sign of him or the other Dragon Slayers." She replied, then at that point all 13 of them burst out each one firing simultaneously at Escaflowne. Van yelled in pain as his Guymeluf was damaged. Kat watched in amazement as where the machine was damaged Van got a cut or a bruise. And the Dragon Slayers kept on firing until Van was forced to land not being able to sustain the sheer amount of damage that he had received in such a short space of time. Allen and Merle had seen what had happened and were rushing to Van's aid as Dilandau advanced on his broken quarry that he had chased for so long. Hitomi placed herself in between injured Van and Dilandau as he drew is sword. Kat took her chance and placed herself in front of Hitomi arms folded eyes fixed on the cockpit of the Guymeluf that stood sword drawn.


	33. Repercussions

Chapter 33

Repercussions

Dilandau faltered, he had expected some kind of trick from Van and thought he was prepared but not for this. His pause gave Merle and Allen time to reach them and start taking out the other Dragon Slayers as Dilandau just stood there stock still knowing he could only have one of his desires fulfilled. Kill Van or save Kat. Allen hesitated when he got to Dilandau but Merle did not and swiped with her sword, cutting the legs off Dilandau's Guymeluf. It crumpled under its own weight and fell backwards. Before anyone could stop her Kat had rushed over to the fallen mecha and pulled open the cockpit. As their leader was defeated Dilandau's forces quickly dissipated; surrendering or running for their lives. The Dragon Slayers that had survived the attack from Allen and Merle climbed from their ruined mecha's and were quickly captured by Van's troops. Kat was pushed and pulled out of the way and Dilandau who was unconscious hauled out of the cockpit. Van advanced on him sword drawn.

"I saved you, and you are just going to kill him." Kat yelled at Van straining against the arms that held her.

"He is a killer, he deserves to die." Van said quietly

"Killing is WRONG, that's why I stopped him from killing you. You are JUST as bad as him." Kat screamed at him, eyes swimming with tears. Van turned to face her seeing the desperation on her face.

"Lock him up. I will decide what to do with him later." He muttered

It was a relief to Kat to finally be able to rest and shower in Van's castle for she was covered from head to toe in too many bruises to count, as the damage from the battle was slowly cleaned up and the last of Dilandau's forces detained. The other fortresses had retreated from Austaria and and were nowhere to be seen. Van had still not decided what to do with Dilandau who was locked in the dungeon with a large amount of guards outside his door, from what they said Dilandau hadn't said a word to anyone even Kat who had been down to visit.

She felt horribly guilty and after discussing it with Hitomi who had told her that Van really only had too options. To kill Dilandau or keep him locked up for the rest of his life, neither of which sat well with Kat. She talked with Hitomi for a long time about all that had transpired while they had been apart. Hitomi was horrified that even after all Dilandau had put her though she still had feelings for him. "Never could just do things the easy way." Kat had explained. Hitomi had suggested however that she have a long talk with Folkon who having regained his memory could tell her more about Dilandau's past. She listened with wide eyes about what he had done, but perhaps understood better than most having been on the receiving end of his psychosis.

Folkon later left with Emollia to search for the remaining pendants, though promised that if they should find Kat's bracelet to return it to her so she could go home. For she had been considering going back to earth only to discover that she had lost her bracelet some time during the battle. It was a crushing blow but only strengthened her resolve to do something about Dilandau. Allen had returned to Austaria with Eris and Celena once the skys were cleared of enemies, Chid accompanied him for a time before going back to his own city.


	34. Escape

Chapter 34

Escape

Kat thought long and hard before she decided on a plan and intended to implement it the night before Van had finally decided schedule Dilandau's execution. Kat went down to the dungeon as she had done for the past few nights. She brought a drink for each of the guards which they gladly accepted. It was only a matter of minutes before they all collapsed from the sleeping draft that had been placed in the liquid. Kat grabbed the key and opened the cell door; he was crouched in a corner head in his hands looking rather psychotic if she was honest.

"Dilandau?" she whispered. He looked up at her, and then saw the open door and the sleeping guards. "We need to go now."

"What do you mean?"

"We need to go, or you are to be executed." He stood up so fast she jumped but instead of anger she found his face full of confusion.

"Why are you doing this? It could, if you are caught..."

"We better not get caught then..." She held her hand out, and he took it. They stole through the castle and the surrounding city. Not saying a word and it wasn't until they were out of Fanelia city did she stop and look at the man she had risked her life for.

"I still don't understand why you did that." He said frowning, he couldn't work out why she would risk her life for him. For Dilandau had, had a lot of time to think while he was in the cell and was still struggling to figure out why he just couldn't live without her.

"Never could resist the bad boy..." Kat replied with a smile. "Hitomi can keep her hero Van and that pretty boy Allen. I walk on the wild side of life." She paused "However we are going to have to have some ground rules, like no taking over the kingdom that my friends live in. And no more of this..." Dilandau scowled and sighed. But this time there was a smile behind the scowl this time.


	35. The End of the Beginning

Chapter 35

The end of the beginning.

The whole castle was on alert when the change of guard had found the cell empty and search parties were instantly sent out. Hitomi went straight up to Kats room and found a note for her.

"_Dear Hitomi_

_I apologise for my sudden exit, but I couldn't let Dilandau be killed. Though I know he deserved it in many ways. I expect you would do the same for Van if he was a homicidal maniac. I will try and stop him from taking over anything large again or causing too much trouble. Please don't be angry and I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me for my actions, but I couldn't live her for the rest of my life knowing it was my fault that he was caught and subsequently put to death. And since I lost my bracelet during the fight I can't go back to earth, I hope you understand that I wouldn't have been able to live with myself. And so I take my leave, I hope to see you again but don't hold your breath._

_Have a good life, and my best wishes to you and Van._

_Kat x"_

And that was the last time Hitomi saw of either of them, at least officially, rumours sometimes filtered through to the castle of a ransacked village and though the village was normally burnt to the ground casualties were minimal, and rumours of a couple that could defeat a hundred men without a scratch. These made Hitomi smile slightly, she wondered if Dilandau had taught Kat some of his infamous sword play, it wouldn't surprise her that girl seemed to be able to talk her way into anything. In the next year Van proposed to her and she accepted, the wedding was to be the biggest event of the year and just after the vows had been said Hitomi felt a strange presence and looked around and saw two distant figures, one of them waving furiously. Hitomi waved back over the sea of people that had turned out to see the wedding.

"_Congratulations my friend..from both of us." _Hitomi heard in her head, just before the figures left the wall they were stood on and disappeared into oblivion. Leaving her and Van to live happily ever after.

"Well you started it."

"Did not."

"Why do you have to burn everything? I only asked for a camp fire, NOT a forest fire."

"It just got out of control"

"Oh it did...as well as the village the other week and that farm we stayed at."

"That was an accident..."

"You mean that the torch just walked itself over to the hay bales and..."

"Ok...I just can't help it. I like fire."

Hope you enjoyed this fic, I certainly enjoyed writing it. It's not perfect by any means but I am pleased with the result.

Constructive critisim is always welcome...

Kovah x


End file.
